Uprising
by GleeGeneration23
Summary: AU-When fleeing after the convent (via the train) the Von Trapp family are separated and Liesl and Brigitta are taken by Herr Zeller. Sending a reluctant Maria ahead with his children Georg stays behind in order to reunite his family. And hell hath no fury like a father whose little girls are in danger.
1. Dark was the Night

**Hi, so here is a new story and my first (of a few ideas) for the Sound of Music. Like so many other people I grew up watching this movie and then when watching it a couple of months ago fell in love with it again, I adore the character of Liesl because in a bizarre way I could relate to her. Also I like the character of Brigitta so that's why she's included in this as well.**

 **I don't know much about the actual family but I know there have been a lot of fanfictions about the Von Traps getting on a train rather than going through the mountains, for this story I choose the train, so the story is they drove from the convent to the train and then this little plot bunny was started.**

 **The main characters in this are probably going to be Georg, Liesl and Brigitta and I expect this story to be around seventeen chapters.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine,**

 **Please Read and Review and let me know if this idea is worth continuing-I probably will continue it anyway but it's always nice to hear how a story is received.**

 **Also a small side-note-i know the Von Traps in the movie didn't know much about what was going on in the 1930s but realistically I think Liesl, Friedrick and to some extent Louisa probably knew who the Nazi's were and what they stood for.**

 **Spelling and grammar are not my strong suit so please let me know if there are any discrepancies with names and the like.**

 **And again, please let me know what you think.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

Uprising 

AU-When fleeing after the convent (via the train) the Von Trapp family are separated and Liesl and Brigitta are taken by Herr Zeller. Sending a reluctant Maria ahead with his children Georg stays behind in order to reunite his family. And hell hath no fury like a father whose little girls are in danger.

Chapter 1-Dark was the Night

In which there is a train, a separation and a decision to be made.

* * *

The night was cold and dark and the air was frigid. Their breathes were coming out in steam and Liesl couldn't believe that this time last night they would have all been tucked in bed wasting the time away until the dawn broke and the summer seemed to stretch onwards.

In fact, with a night this cold Liesl couldn't believe for a second standing right here and right now on the train platform, that it was summer. Even after the whole glorious months that she and her siblings had spent running and laughing and singing, she couldn't believe that it had come to an end so abruptly and with such a horrible ending.

In truth Liesl did understand what was going on within her own country more so than her father would have liked her know. She knew that Adolf Hitler was in Germany slowly building up an Empire everyone had thought lost in the last war that her father so disliked talking about. She understood a little more than she wanted to about Rolf and the uniform he was wearing and the strange ideology he was spouting. She had never believed that he would betray them…that he would betray her and the hurt and the pain that his actions had caused was so strong that should she dwell upon it for even a second she knew that she would curl up on the nearest bench and start crying and not stop.

There was a pause where she stood there on the train platform and thought of Rolf, of her sweet Rolf who had kissed her so gently before running off into the rain. Now he was a hardened member of an organization that was the reason she was here standing on the platform with her brothers and sisters milling around her fleeing her country and leaving behind her safety, her security and her home.

Liesl took another deep breath and forced herself back to the present. Her mother…her new mother, was with her father buying the train tickets. She was going to get on the train with her siblings as soon as boarding was allowed and then just before the train was too leave her mother and father would board just in case Herr Zeller would have thought to track them here.

They were lucky Liesl knew. The boarders were mostly closed and soon within the week according to the Reverend Mother all of the ways out of Austria would be closed. Perhaps even the mountains (which she suspected would have been her father's last resort) would have been patrolled. Either way they were fleeing sooner rather than later. She had her passport tucked into her coat pocket. Every one of her brothers and sisters had the same with the exception of Marta and Gretel whose passports had been given to their mother for safekeeping. She had her small bag with her few clothes and her book of fairytales that her mother used to read to her before she had died, and she had her lipstick which she was hoping her father didn't notice. If he did she knew it would be confiscated.

She shivered again, despite the fact that it was still summer it was late in the evening, nearing midnight she supposed, and her family had been through a lot. Hours ago, they were singing in front of millions of fellow countrymen, this morning they had hugged and kissed their parents as they had returned from their honeymoon and over two hours ago she had crouched behind a headstone and watched a boy that she thought she loved point a gun at her father all because she had stupidly given away their position by gasping in shock.

And it wasn't just the weather that was cold, the whole world seemed a little colder and a little darker Liesl thought to herself. It was if the sun had gone in and her family's world had gotten darker, a little bleaker and a little sharper since the German Army had pushed their way over the boarder in the pretense of bringing order back to Austria.

But Liesl couldn't talk about that with anyone. Her siblings were too young and she wasn't even sure how much danger Friedrich as the oldest boy in the family knew he was in, she wasn't sure if her mother knew what the danger her father was in, she was horribly unsure of everything and the thought of asking her father was enough to turn her stomach? How could she ask him anything when it was her gasp that had given them away and nearly gotten him shot.

There was a pull at her side and she saw her brother Friedrich send her a small smile. The seven of them had taken up position on a bench while their parents had gone to find tickets. It was almost military the way that they were sat she noted. Louisa was sat at one end, Gretel on her lap her little sisters head on her older sister's shoulder. Louisa was pinched at the mouth her eyes wide and terrified and Liesl's heart ached just by looking at her, Louisa was the risk-taking member of the family, she was not the one that looked afraid of the very shadows surrounding her.

Next to her on the other side was Kurt. Her little brother had one arm around Marta who was leaning against him her eyes closed and her breathing just evening out. While Gretel was leaning against Louisa her eyes wide and her hands clinging to her sister it was Marta that was slowly falling asleep. Kurt was awake, but his legs were dangling off the edge of the bench and Liesl was once again stuck by how young her siblings were. Even Brigitta was leaning back in her seat on the other edge of the bed her hands twisting in her lap and her gaze darting all across the mostly empty platform.

She turned her attention to her brother who was still standing, and she forced a smile on her face though she did not doubt that he could see through it. Friedrich touched her hand again his cold fingers resting against hers for a second.

"Rolf was an idiot" he said under his breath so that nobody else could hear. "To treat you like that, to join _them,_ you deserve so much better"

It was a sweet sentiment and Liesl touched his arm in response with a small smile. Even when they had been so desperately unhappy with all their governesses and their absentee father and she and her brother had been united is a strange sense of unity-that had more than once left them fighting like cats in a basket-they had always supported each other, and she was pleased and more than a little relieved to see that, that did not change.

"Thank you" she said finally. She was not sure if she could trust her tone not to stay even if she carried on so instead she decided to shift a little on her feet and clutch at her coat sleeves in order to find something for her hands to do. She swallowed again.

"Liesl" came a voice and Liesl looked up to see her sister Brigitta standing once again twisting her hands in front of her. Liesl remembered her sister doing that when she had nightmares and her little sister would creep out of the room she shared with Louisa to crawl into bed with Liesl as if her biggest sister could keep the darkness away even for a short time.

Liesl was not sure if she could do that now.

Instead she forced a smile on her face and hoped to God that Brigitta did not pick up on how forced it was, at how much it felt like ice and how Liesl would do anything right there and then to curl into a little ball and fall asleep in someone's arms like Gretel was surely doing.

"Yes Brigitta?" she asked finally dragging her attention to the present instead of dwelling on what could be…no…on what should be.

Her little sister, her little ten-year-old sister, her dark hair still loose around her shoulders and her eyes so wide in the blackness that was the night air that Liesl couldn't help but touch her shoulder and curl her fingers around her hair like she had done with Gretel when they had been singing about their favorite things and trying to forget the woman that had changed their lives for the better. Never had she thought that in that desperate moment that the woman that had offered her some comfort when she was dripping wet and confused and so helplessly in love, would become her mother.

"Liesl I need to go to the bathroom" her sister said so very quietly and Liesl paused. Her father had told her in his tone that so reminded her of days where he had barely spoken to them as anything other than burdens underfoot-to stay in this spot until he and her mother had ensured that they were in no danger and they could all get on the train together to go to Switzerland. From there they would travel she thought to a country safe and secure from Germany's iron grip which as far as Liesl could understand from what she had been reading in the papers was either, England, America or Australia.

Suddenly she felt very grateful that Fraulein Helena had demanded they practice their English during that summer a year ago. Perhaps not so much for the little ones but at least she, Friedrich and Louisa could speak the language with some confidence. She bit her lip as Brigitta tugged on her hand again. Surely, they would know by now if they were in any danger?

Her sister was pulling on her sleeves again and Brigitta looked so desperate that Liesl felt herself relenting. Brigitta was one of the last children who could remember their mother and her passing all those painful years ago when the world had felt as cold and dark as it did now.

"Alright" she said finally feeling almost defeated. Father and Mother had to be back soon, and her father had left her in charge. There must be a que at the tickets she thought resisting the urge to stamp her feet at the hold up. She knew it was quite late at night, quite earie and she knew that anyone who could get out of Austria to avoid the same predicament as her father (or worse) would be trying to leave before the boarders officially closed.

"Friedrich" she said as Brigitta sighed in relief. "I am taking Brigitta to the bathroom, I will be back as soon as I can"

"Father said not to separate. To stay on this platform until mother and he return, any minute the train will be coming and there will be a bathroom on the train"

But Brigitta was already shaking her head. Liesl bit her lip, a part of her wanted to help her little sister, the other part of her wanted to listen to her indomitable father and stay where she was but Brigitta was clinging to her hand and in all honestly Liesl was beginning to think that if she didn't escape this platform even for a second, she might go mad.

She pulled her brother closer to her so that only he could hear what she was whispering into his ear. It did not good she knew, to frighten the little ones.

"Brigitta does not look well, I do not think this is a trivial matter"

And indeed, her sister did not look well. They were all pale and fearful but Brigitta was twisting her hands and darting her gaze everywhere, her whole body seemed to be trembling even though the air was cold but not cold enough to be shivering. Liesl had a feeling that this was more than the need to relieve herself. Brigitta was finally realizing the danger that they were in quicker than the rest of her brothers and sisters.

Friedrich bit his lip. "Leave the luggage here" he said finally. "And make sure that you are back before father finds out"

Liesl resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her little brother and then held out her hand to Brigitta who took it with a small, trembling smile.

* * *

She led her little sister off the platform and down the steps and back towards the ticket station where she had last seen a bathroom. But she did not even make it that far because as soon as they were out of sight of the ticket box and near the stairs leading to the entrance of the station Brigitta suddenly stiffened and then without warning turned her head and vomited what little dinner they had had before they had left their home, onto the floor.

Liesl instantly brushed her hair back making soothing movements, they were too near the entrance to the station and even as Brigitta was retching and sobbing once or twice in what Liesl knew was fear and finally she seemed to be coming down from the adrenaline rush that she had been surviving on since they had left the concert hall.

"I'm sorry" she wailed and then she wrapped both her arms around her big sisters waist and hugged her crying into her torso. Liesl shook her head bending down to cup her sisters face in her hands she took of her gloves so that they had skin to skin contact and placed them in her lap.

"Do not worry Brigitta" she said finally even though she knew the words were hopeless. "Father will see us safely through this. Has he ever let us down? Even after mother?"

"I am afraid" said a drawling voice of supreme smugness "That he is going to disappoint you Fraulein's"

Brigitta let out a gasp and Liesl stood up so rapidly that her gloves came tumbling onto the floor and Brigitta's hat came off with her elbow. Both were ignored for standing behind them with an expression of supreme smugness was Herr Zeller, at least two Nazi's standing behind his close top staff car and a pistol held almost lazily in his hands.

For a second she stared at him and then fear and an anger so deep made Liesl step without hesitation in front of her younger sister blocking her from view. If Herr Zeller thought he was hurting Brigitta he was not doing so without one hell of a fight from her.

"Well…well…well…if it isn't the two of the Von Trapp girls. Now be good citizens of the Third Reich and tell me where is your traitorous father?"

Had she not been so afraid for her sister Liesl was sure she would have laughed in the man's face at his belief that she would give up her father so easily.

"I do not know" she said because that was the truth. The last time she had seen her father she had been told to take her siblings to the platform and wait for her parents to come with the tickets. The only good thing was that if Herr Zeller was asking then there was no way he could know where the rest of her family were. And there was only one guard.

Herr Zeller stared at her for a second and the without warning a hand reached out and grabbed her by the arm forcing her to look directly in his face, he raised the gun however but this time it was not to point it at her it was to point it directly at Brigitta who screamed. Liesl shifted until she was fully in front of her sister but that meant that there was more of grip on her arm and she was sure for one wild moment that Herr Zeller was going to break the bones.

"I don't know where Herr Zeller" she said gritting her teeth and digging deep in her courage. Herr Zeller pulled the gun away from Brigitta who buried her face in Liesl's side and used the tip of it to flick some of Liesl's hair down. She felt her hands on her sister tighten.

Herr Zeller did not look away when he spoke to the Nazi soldier standing behind him.

"He's here in the station, look for him, if you can get him, take him, if you can get the nun or one of the brats get them. But before you do that, get these two lovely young women in the car, if Von Trapp does make it to a neutral country he wont be there for long, the Third Reich will not be so insulted."

And that was when Liesl knew instantly what was going to happen.

She tried to turn and run pulling Brigitta with her but before she could move one step she could feel the gun pressed into the small of her back and the Nazi solider already had his arm around her sister lifting her up and dumping her in the car within seconds.

Liesl allowed herself to be pushed back to the car and when Herr Zeller slammed her into the door so that her cheek bruised against it she refused to cry out. She was half shoved into the car and the doors were locked on the outside. Brigitta, tears streaming down her face moved so that she was curled up in Liesl's arms though she didn't doubt that an embrace wasn't going to do them much good. Liesl honestly couldn't think about what to do now.

The only blessing…or perhaps it was a curse she didn't know…was that her gloves and her sisters hat were still on the floor, discarded, trampled but still there and that no matter what happened her father would come for them.

She tightened her grip on Brigitta who was sobbing silently into her stomach and pressed a kiss on top of her head as they sped down another unknown dark road, away from the station, away from freedom and away from her family. There was she knew, one small problem to contend with…

If her father did come for them would the three of them make it out of this alive? Would their mother or brothers or sisters? The answer to that question Liesl didn't know so instead she hugged her sister closer to her, closed her eyed and tried despite everything that had happened…not to cry.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-Georg finds out what happened to his daughters, he and Maria make a decision and Herr Zeller has no idea of what fate has in store.**

 **And there we are, the first chapter, please let me know what you think. Due to workload that comes with being a student I will next probably upload sometime around Christmas but it will be a mass upload of two or three chapters.**

 **And again enjoy this little story.**


	2. Hostage

**Hi, so here is the second chapter, this was actually really difficult to write so please keep that in mind.**

 **I hope to have a third chapter up before 2018 so please enjoy and if i don't get a second chapter up before Christmas i wish you a merry one.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review**

* * *

Uprising

Chapter 2-Hostage

Georg finds out what happened to his daughters, he and Maria make a decision and Herr Zeller has no idea of what fate has in store.

* * *

It had taken all of twenty minutes for Herr Zeller to deliver a near fatal blow to the man he was seeking so valiantly to destroy. What he didn't know, what he didn't know yet more or less was that Georg Von Trapp had no intention of surrendering just yet. Herr Zeller had not fought in the last conflict whatsoever and therefore did not understand Georg Von Trapp's thinking in the sense that before surrender there was always another option. He did not know that he had passed down that knowledge to his children and he did not know how much a father could value teaching his daughters the same things that he taught his son. All in all he felt pretty confident that his plan would work.

But that is a story for another time.

Friedrich had begun biting the nails on his thumb. He would have begun pacing but Gretel had firmly glued herself to his lap and whenever he thought or mentioned going to see whether his sister or his father were ever coming back Louisa kept shooting him the most anguished looks imaginable, so much so that he sat back down again and was now trying not to kick something in his worry.

He should have never let Liesl go on her own. How long could it take to use the bathroom anyway? Even for girls?

There were footsteps to the side of him and he half leapt up out of his seat nearly dislodging his sleeping little sister and sending her crashing into Louisa who despite her fear managed to shoot him a horrible look.

It was their mother. Friedrich had never been so pleased to see her in his entire life and that included the time she had come back home. She swept them all a tired smile and he could see from the dark circles under her eyes that she had probably not slept since she had returned home from her honeymoon and that was nearly-he checked his watch-two day ago give or take a few hours.

"Darlings" she said hugging Marta onto her lap. "Your father is coming, he managed to get us all tickets to Switzerland without the haggling over the passports and not a moment too soon." Friedrich took that to believe that Liesl and the Mother Superior had both been right to worry about the boarders being closed before they had a chance to escape. She let that sink in for a second relief flooding all of them, before she looked around again and Friedrich knew she knew in that instant that his sisters were missing.

"Friedrich where is Liesl and Brigitta?"

"They went to the bathroom mother" Louisa said before Friedrich could speak and their mother looked around as if expecting Brigitta and Liesl to appear from thin air-as if Friedrich had not wanted and wished the same thing to happen ever since his sisters had left.

There were footsteps behind them and he half turned desperate to see his sisters but instead it was his father. He knew without seeing her that Louisa had closed her eyes in despair. Despite their father's chance since he had married their new mother, he Liesl and Louisa being the oldest he knew were sometimes wondering when the other shoe would drop and their father would become the stern captain that they had known and feared (and on more than one occasion hated)

Their father took them in with that wide piercing gaze that had never changed regardless of what the situation was. Friedrich noted that he had noted within seconds that two of his daughters were gone and he felt his spine straighten as those eyes that he had once been told resembled his own flickered onto his face.

"Where are Brigitta and Liesl?"

"Bathroom darling, I'm sure there'll be along soon" his mother said softly and his father managed a small smile at the somewhat quiet but powerful response.

"Friedrich" he said turning back to his son, "Are you alright son?"

In truth Friedrich was not all right. He was tired, he was scared, and he was cold. He knew why they were fleeing and was scared of it, Scared, of the black cloud that was hanging over them and he was unsure. Austria was his home, he had known no other home than this and here they were fleeing from their country in the middle of the night because the world had gone insane it seemed overnight. Perhaps Liesl knew more, she certainly read more papers than he did, and the forbidden ones as well, but he couldn't find the words to voice all of this to his father who so long ago had been so cold and untouchable. Friedrich honestly did not know how to deal with this new father that he now had. Perhaps that would change in time. Friedrich really did hope it would. For now, he simply shrugged.

His father however seemed to understand and reached out and touched his arm for a second. This whole ten seconds that they had stared at each other and yet had communicated so much had been noticed by nobody, but his mother and Friedrich knew that she wasn't going to mention it and felt his heart swell in love for her.

His father looked at his watch, "Fredrich how long have your sisters been gone. The train will be along in five minutes and I do not want to dwell here in case we are discovered"

Louisa let out a whimper that at the last second she manged to turn into a utterly unconvincing cough. Friedrich wanted to move to help his sister but he was so bone deep tired that he was struggling to keep his eyes open. Mother wrapped one arm around Kurt's body in order to gently touch Louisa's shoulder, but everyone had seen his sisters face ripple with fear. He felt anger curdle in his gut, These were his little sisters. Nobody got to frighten them.

But there was something wrong. Friedrich couldn't help but notice it, there was something wrong, Liesl was taking too long and he didn't know why.

Their father sighed.

"I am going to look for them" he said finally. "Maria get the children ready, As soon as I am back I want you all on the train. Friedrich, Louisa start helping with the luggage, Find a carriage as far away from the crowds as possible"

He patted Friedrich on the arm once, kissed their mother and then turned and walked down the platform. Friedrich shivered again feeling cold to his very bones. Something was wrong, something was really wrong, he could feel it in his very skin and he was itching to get away from this, He wanted to follow his father but he couldn't leave his siblings before his father got back.

His mother reached out and smiled at him with the train fast approaching, It made no difference really, he knew it would take more then ten minutes for the carriages to fill up and for the train to move every slowly out the station regardless of how desperately his family needed it to move fast.

Squaring his shoulders, he looked at Louisa who looked as fearful as he felt. He reached out as she stood up and if the two of them locked hands for just a second then they were clinging to each other in order to ground themselves, in order to be brave.

Little did they know just how brave they would have to be.

* * *

Georg had checked the ladies as delicately as he could (the world might be falling to hell but he was still raised a gentleman thank you very much) and neither one of his daughters were there. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Herr Zeller arrived if he had not already and the only consolation was the knowledge that had his adversary been thwarted for some time by a couple of nuns with backbone that would have made half of the officer corps of the Imperial Navy tremble in fear and admiration.

Oh but he loathed having to put his children through this.

He knew he did not have a choice, since the dawn of 1938 all those months ago probably earlier if truth be told that this was going to happen-since 1936 when it was becoming clear to most that Germany was in the process of rearming. Perhaps more so for Georg because he remembered the last conflict so vividly. It seemed easier then, Agathe had been alive, Liesl hadn't even been born and the world had seemed so at peace. Of course the first Great Conflict had shattered all illusions and now here they were, here his children were, paying the price for something they didn't even know about,

But that was something he could worry about later. Right now he needed to get his two girls back to the train and get his children and his wife out of the country and somewhere safe.

He walked past the bathroom feeling his stomach swirl with worry. He didn't know where he was looking. Where would Liesl and Brigitta go other than the bathroom? There was nowhere.

So worried was he that he almost didn't see the hat on the floor until he caught the edge of it with his toe and had to steady himself on the side of wall in order to keep himself from falling. Swearing under his breath Georg turned to see what he had almost broke his neck slipping on. It was a hat.

He bent down and picked it up and then something in his stomach curled. It was Brigitta's hat. And next to it was the gloves that he had gotten for Liesl as a detached apology-of sorts-for her fifteenth birthday. They had been leather-the best from Paris and he had gotten them as an afterthought-detaching himself from the Baroness's warm bed one morning as winter came around. Liesl had loved them however, had gushed about how they had made her seem all grown up to her school friends and then had promptly left after dinner to show them. In hindsight it was probably that Rolf boy she had gone to see. God, he had been so blind when it came to his eldest hadn't he?

But they were here. Why would they leave their hat and gloves? He turned carrying them and walked heart in his mouth out of the station looking around desperately but the way his throat seemed to have stopped working around the lump developing and the way his heart seemed to be skipping beats every few seconds making him shudder with a potent combination of grief and a pain so sharp that it made the fog of grief he had endured when Agathe was taken from him feel like a small scratch.

"Excuse me sir" Georg said seeing what could only be described as a drunk slumped against the side of the pavement outside the station. The man looked up at him with blurry eyes and Georg reached into his pocket and took out a silver coin that would buy the man a decent meal, though he suspected it would be spent on a bottle of cheap gin judging by the expression on the man's face when he saw the coin. Georg kept it out of reach gritting his teeth against the onslaught of anger that was building despite the fact that he still had no confirmation of his deepest fears.

The man blinked at him.

"Have you seen two girls one aged ten and the other sixteen, both with dark hair, both perhaps rushed out of here." He had to close his eyes at the very image. "They may have been with a man, several men, all wearing uniforms supporting the Third Reich."

The man stared at him and then there was a sense of pity in the drunk's face as he registered Georg. There was a pause and then finally he reached out and took the silver coin out of Georg's hands.

"Two girls, one holding her sister I'd reckon, both forced into a car at gunpoint. They called him Herr Zeller and one girl was called Friulan Von Trapp"

Georg turned and walked away hat and gloves in his hands, heart breaking, stomach churning and fury burning his blood. He couldn't think past the screaming in his ears. Liesl and Brigitta, his little girls, two of the girls that were so like his first wife it was uncanny, that had been amongst the first to bond with his second. Now they were in the hands of the most dreaded institution in Europe, in the hands of a man that Georg knew wouldn't hesitate to use violence against two young girls just because he could.

 _Oh god. His two girls._

Liesl. Liesl. His eldest, the girl he had ignored for so long. He had ignored his children for a long time he would admit that but Maria had been right-one day he had woken up and Liesl was a woman, ready to fall in love, ready to have her heart broken. She was a shining example of everything good in the world and he had never been prouder of her than when she had started singing. In fact the only reason why he had not indulged her in her glass of champagne was because he saw at least three officers shoot her rather unnerving glances.

Liesl.

And Brigitta. Oh god Brigitta was even worse. She was ten. His little bookworm who instead of marching briskly in the garden, read books under a blanket and pestered him for copies of books whenever he was in Vienna. Brigitta who was small and fragile and who didn't understand what was happening.

He had thought that making his children flee their home country like common criminals in the dead of night was bad enough…but this…

This was beyond imagining.

He forced his way back to the platform stomach churning. Maria was there holding open the door and Friedrich was with her. Louisa it seemed must have ensured the younger children were on a carriage. His boy looked at him for a second and then he saw the childlike hope on Friedrich's face die only to be replaced by the mask of someone desperately trying to be a man. Georg wondered painfully for a second just how much he had missed from his children's lives when he had been swanning around Vienna pretending that his heart wasn't ripped out of his chest the second his wife had breathed her last.

"Son" he said heavily "I need you to get on the train and look after your siblings"

Friedrich looked at him for a second and Georg suspected that in that moment he understood more than he was showing in his face.

"Father" he said heavily and then he was on the train and out of sight his blonde hair disappearing. Georg sighed, as soon as he got his family settled he was going to have to have a talk with his son.

"Zeller took Brigitta and Liesl at gunpoint" he said quietly as the whistles blew covering Maria's gasp of horror.

"What do we do?" she asked.

Georg forced himself to look at his second chance of a happy ending.

"I am going to get my…our daughters back. I need you Maria to get the children to Switzerland, access my bank accounts and wait for me"

He could tell the practical part of Maria understood why he was asking her to remain behind but he knew as much as she did that they were loathe to leave each other. He didn't want to part from his wife, his strength, but a part of him knew that she would never allow him to do what he was thinking off right now.

Maria blinked back tears and Georg nodded once.

"I love you" she said quietly.

"I love you too" he said finally "When I get the girls back I promise I will find you. I promise you that"

Maria managed a small smile and then she curled her body around them and kissed him like it was her last breath. Georg responded carving the feel of her into his memory before he let her go just as the train was moving, he watched her and she watched him until the train with his wife and his five remaining children was gone out of the station, out of danger, out hopefully soon of the country…

He swallowed heavily and then he turned and vomited on the floor of the station feeling the shock of the evening finally catch up with him. He had lost two of his children and he was hopelessly unprepared to get them back. He knew he had to think like a soldier if he was going to go up against other soldiers, and a good third of them were younger than him too boot- but right now he couldn't think like a soldier. Right now he could only think like a father and that was really not going to save his children.

And that was another reason why he had wanted Maria to stay with Friedrich. Maria would never approve of the things he would do, the risks he would take, the ultimate danger he would put himself in because he would he knew in a heartbeat, sacrifice himself to the Third Reich and all the horrors that followed if it meant that his daughters were safe.

But if he could get them out alive then he would, if he could join them he would take that chance as well and…if all of this resulted in Herr Zeller's death then…Georg knew that he was not going to shed one tear over it.

Right now however, he was going to get his daughters back.

And with that he forced his feet to move one in front of the other down the steps and into the courtyard away from his wife and children and towards the place where his daughters had been bundled in the back of the car to be used as bait for him, he thought that God help him if anyone got in his way.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-Liesl and Brigitta arrive at their prison and must find a way to stay hopeful.**

 **And let me know what you think.**


	3. The Hunted

**Hi, so i thought i wouldn't get this done in time but i did so here is chapter three just in time for Christmas! I know that this is a bit slow but i promise you the story will pick up soon.**

 **I want to say i will update as soon as i can but i do have an essay due in in January so that will take up most of my time.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine**

 **Please Read and Review.**

 **And i wish you all a very merry Christmas and a safe 2018 where i will probably see you next.**

* * *

Uprising

Chapter 3-The Hunted

Liesl and Brigitta are taken to their prison and must desperately try and find a way to remain hopeful.

* * *

They had been travelling for maybe an hour before they turned into a square. Brigitta had buried her head in Liesl's jacket for most of the ride and Liesl could feel the tears pouring down her little sisters face. She on the most part was trying to show how very little she cared in front of Herr Zeller but considering their was no way out of the car she couldn't help but think it wasn't doing much at all. She tried to keep track of the way to the station but the night was coming in fast and she found that it was too dark.

She had to think, somehow she didn't know but she thought that the chances of her sister and herself staying alive depended on how fast she could think on her feet when they asked her questions. With any luck her family…her father…were on the train by now and if all she was reading in the papers were true then they were planning for a war or at least a partial war with some countries that did oppose the Third Reich.

But she didn't need to think about that right now, her sister was all that mattered. And her sister needed her big sister to be strong and brave and not to crumple under the steady weight of despair Liesl was feeling that grew steadily as time progressed.

Finally, the car did eventually stop. Liesl sat ramrod straight back straight and head held high like she had had to do at dinner so many times in the past. For the first time she was thankful of her father's insane discipline as a way for him to manage his grief when their mother had died. Brigitta might not understand how much pride a person had to hold themselves together when they were in grave danger but by God was Liesl understanding it now.

The whole thing made her oddly sentimental for those times when her father was gone. She had hated it, on more than one occasion she had hated him, Friedrich and Louisa had been the only ones to understand her feelings at the time but they had never really _understood_ them. Louisa had been much to much their father's daughter, always ready with her fists to understand what a lack of attention, what a lack of a mother figure would mean as she got older and Fredrich had wanted a father rather than a Captain but had been smart enough to realise that he needed to learn lessons from both.

She on the other hand had never been a soldier's daughter in the sense everyone else had been. She had been a normal girl just seeking some sort of fatherly acknowledgement.

* * *

And now the one time that she might get her wish there was a very good chance that her father would be shipped off to fight for a cause he could never see himself fighting for. She shook her head to herself as the door was roughly opened.

A soldier dragged her by the elbow and Liesl went willingly enough. It would probably be best to play the stupid little girl for now if it kept them safe. The solider reached back inside the car and grabbed Brigitta by the elbow pulling her roughly out of the car and Liesl gritted her teeth at the thought of her baby sister being so rudely handled by some jumped up little boy trying to be a man by dressing up in a uniform which wasn't even that smart she thought to herself cattily.

"I can help with my sister" she said in her best haughty voice-the ' _I am better than you'_ speech that she had perfected when she was in boarding school. The solider all but threw Brigitta into her arms and Liesl steadied her sister her hands clawed around her shoulders the cold air making her fingers tremble. The whole world seemed cold and unfriendly now and she looked around desperately. She didn't know what she was hoping for, perhaps her father to step out from behind a pillar to rescue them.

"Follow me" the solider said finally his pistol twirling in his hand. Liesl wondered if it was a sin to wish he would accidently shoot his own foot off.

She wrapped her arms around Brigitta's shoulders and gently pulled her along. It was easier not to argue and besides there was a difference between being on your own and being with your little sister. Liesl would admit to herself that she might take risks with her own life if it was just that…that being said she knew it wasn't and she also knew that even if she could run far Brigitta couldn't.

"Come on" she muttered more to herself than anything but instead she managed to help her sister-still trembling with fright-down through the courtyard and into the big house that was apparently the new Nazi Headquarters.

For a second her eyes adjusted to the new bright surroundings after the impenetrable darkness of outside and she found herself breathing a small sigh of relief. She had thought for one wild second that they were back in their old house and she found that now it was clear that they were not, the thought of going back to the house she had lived in all her life as a prisoner was too much to imagine.

The soldier stood there to attention and Liesl resisted with difficulty the urge to roll her eyes despite the gravity of the situation. She was beginning to hate Herr Zeller with a passion that scared her and now she was afraid that it would make her behaviour more reckless. The last person she had hated this much had been a governess three years ago who when Marta had had nightmares had chosen to tie her hands to the bed so she would learn that behave herself. That debacle had resulted in Liesl smacking the governess across the face and their father coming home for a month.

He had never chastised her for that she realised as she thought back lost in her own thoughts. She wondered if he had known and simply approved without saying he approved. She wondered if she would ever get a chance to ask him and then she had to blink back tears rapidly least Brigitta see the fear that she was feeling etched on her face.

"Ah the Von Trapp sisters" said a voice as smooth as a sickening kind of caramel. Liesl closed her eyes for a second and then opened them again wrapping her arm around her sister who had not stopped trembling since she had been forced in to the car. It was Herr Zeller. He was smiling what would have once been a polite smile-the one she had seen at the ball that had almost torn apart her family and then brought it back together again.

"I heard that your father didn't get on the train. Of course my spy at the station told me the family escaped into Switzerland the little nun included but I don't care about them, let them rot in the snow of a country that will soon fall under the glory of the Third Reich for all I care. Your father will soon learn his place in the glorious new order of things" he leaned forwards and Liesl had to stop herself from leaning back pushing her sister half behind her.

"Once he learns we have something as pretty as you in our keeping"

His gloved finger stroked it's way down Liesl's cheek even as she jerked her face away.

Herr Zeller laughed once loud, cold and cruel and Liesl had to resist the urge to flinch.

"Herr Zeller If you want to prove a point to my father then you can use me. Please let my sister go. She is ten, she's innocent"

Herr Zeller's cold eyes flew down to Brigitta whose eyes were red rimmed but who met his gaze with her wide eyed stare. Liesl felt a burst of pride towards her sister and another wave of love towards her for looking this man who was to her probably more monster and refusing to back down even in the face of grave danger.

Then he laughed another bout of cold cruel laughter and Liesl knew that her pathetic attempt had failed. He didn't even bother to give her an answer and so she refused to say anything more. She refused to give anything away and she made up her mind there and then not to betray her emotions. As far as Herr Zeller was now concerned Liesl Von Trapp was going to be a veritable queen of ice.

God she prayed that wasn't asking too much of her.

"Take them into the cellar and leave them there, and if Von Trapp arrives bring them up. Children should see their fathers before they learn their place in the world"

Arms grabbed Liesl and the force of it meant that she had to let go of Brigitta who let out a horse gasp as she was grabbed rather roughly. They were forced down a narrow and rather cold flight of stairs and more than once she thought she might trip and break something. Instead they were let down a small corridor where they were a small black door. The door was opened and Liesl noticed that the guard only had one key and that was attached to his belt. Even when they changed the guard unless there was one here that she knew (and she didn't want to think about that) then there was very little chance that she could get the key away and even then with the house swarming with guards she was pretty sure that she wouldn't be able to do anything.

They were well and truly trapped.

The soldier opened the door and threw them both in. Liesl managed to see a small corner against the back of the room which they could sit in and then the entire room was plunged into darkness as the door slammed shut. She took in a deep breath.

"Brigitta come and sit down over here" she said and she ushered her little sister in the dark to the corner. She sat her still trembling sister down and then took her own coat off and laid it over them like a blanket.

Brigitta waited until they were sat down and then she burst back into tears and this time she spoke.

"I'm sorry Liesl this is all my fault" she was sobbing like her heart was broken and Liesl shook her head reaching in the dark so she could frame her sisters face in her hands.

"No Brigitta it wasn't. They were looking for any of us."

"Father is going to be so mad" Brigitta sobbed. "I got us captured"

Liesl shook her head again. "Father is going to be happy if we are safe. Never mind about anything else. And I promise you Brigitta this was not your fault. This could have happened to any of us."

And she was right of course. Friedrich could have taken Marta to the bathroom and gotten caught. Kurt and Louisa…there was a hundred and one ways in which this could have gone and none of them placed the sole blame on a ten year olds shoulders.

Brigitta gave another large sniff and then she rested her head on Liesl's shoulder.

"Is father going to come for us?" she asked finally.

"I'm sure he will" Liesl said confidently trying to keep the fear out of her voice. In truth she knew that her father would come looking for them without hesitation but privately she was filled with fear for him if he did. Half of her wanted him to stay away and the other half wanted him here with his arms wrapped around her so she didn't have to pretend to be the brave one.

But if he showed up…they would either shoot him or force him to fight for their cause and Liesl wasn't sure if she could bare either one.

Instead she pressed a kiss on the top of her sister's dark curls and leaned back against the wall.

"I think now is the time to sing about our favourite things" she said finally. It would do little to help the situation she knew but she also knew that it would cheer Brigitta up.

"Quietly?" her sister asked and there was a hint of a smile in her tone. Liesl kissed her on top of her head again and tightened her arms around Brigitta keeping one eye on the door. There was no way in hell that she was letting anything get to her little sister, soldier or anything else, without putting up one hell of a fight first.

(God forgive her for swearing even if it was in her head)

There was a pause before Brigitta started singing softly under her breath and after a pause Liesl joined in, the voices of the two sisters mixing together in the oppressive quiet of the room. It was forlorn somehow, like it had been when their mother had left, she had come back that time, Liesl wasn't sure if anyone would come back this time. But they had to have hope. Hope was what made them sing.

 _'_ _Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens'_

* * *

 **And with that i will leave you.**

 **Next Chapter-Georg must confront painful memories as he sets out to find his daughters and has to contemplate just what he would do for his children.**

 **And let me know what you think. **


	4. The Haunted

**Hi, so here is the fourth chapter, this has been a bit on the back burner considering i have gone back to Uni and also had a monster of an essay to do but here it is and i hope to have the next chapter up a lot sooner but my uni work does come first so please keep that in mind.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **So some of the historical events mentioned after the first world war might be inaccurate but i think that certainly in the 20s Georg has been to Germany and i think he would have taught them some things when his first wife was alive. So most of this chapter is my imagines trying to get into the head of someone who had survived the first war and knew even though he didn't want to admit it. That is my take on the matter-as i said it might not be accurate.**

 **Nothing is mine just the story**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Uprising

Chapter 4-The Haunted

Georg must confront painful memories as he sets out to find his daughters and must mentally and physically prepare himself for what he is willing to contemplate for his children.

* * *

He had decided after a pause to go back to the convent.

In all honestly he didn't know what else he could do.

He didn't know where his girls were being held and he didn't know where Herr Zeller was keeping them and even if he did that was not the problem and he knew it.

Everywhere was being watched.

The boarders he knew with a dry common sense would be closed soon, guard along every train station and names being taken, he knew soon that they would be trapped. He'd give it really a week more and then trains were out the question. Any ships in the harbour were now navy and there was nowhere really to go by sea unless you counted America and Georg was not prepared to go down that route at all. From America to Switzerland would raise a lot of questions and Maria did not have enough money on her even with his bank accounts pre the Great War to get five children and herself past the ever tightening border controls.

He paused thinking hard.

There was the mountains but that he would keep as a last resort. As he walked he thought about that route. He could help the girls he knew if needs be but Brigitta and Liesl were not strong girls. Out of all his daughters the one fit for outdoor actives was Louisa. Liesl was to much her mother's daughter and Brigitta spent a lot of her time indoors with her books, the ones he did know about the unofficial ones that he disapproved of but she had managed to get a hold of anyway.

He considered his options.

He had to get his daughters back and he had to do it in a timeframe that would hopefully get them in a train across the border in time. And yes he was considering sending the two of them. If needs must he would let them escape before him. But that didn't change the fact that Georg knew he was just one man-and probably a designated traitor at this point-against the entirety of the Third Reich in Austria and against one man in particular who made it clear he disliked him enough to take two girls and do the Lord only knew what with them.

And that led him to a second problem. A more heart-breaking problem. What to do when he found them. If he could escape he would, if he couldn't with his daughters at stake he would join them. He would play the part of the broken man resigned to his fate, he would play along get his daughters into his custody and then hope the government had mercy on him afterwards. The entire thing made him sick to his stomach. It was against every moral principle that he had ever been brought up to believe in but this was not a time for morals.

These were his children.

And Maria had been right, Liesl in particular was not a child anymore.

That thought made his knees buckle and even though the road to the convent was mostly quiet in the darkness he still found himself swaying with the thought. Liesl was a woman or near as damn it. Brigitta was only ten, her age would grant her a few respites but Liesl…

He knew how soldiers sometimes thought. He had seen it when they had moved into Germany after the first war. While he had been quick to impose discipline on his men for any unseemly behaviour he knew that most commanders didn't. Herr Zeller he knew wouldn't.

God.

Liesl.

Brigitta.

Liesl.

He was only now beginning to appreciate what he had missed during those years where he had been locked away dealing with his intense grief. He'd had seven children all of whom had looked or acted in some way like their mother but he knew that had been the cowards way out. He had not wanted to raise his children alone. And so he had left and by the time he had taken the glasses of and really looked at his seven children he supposed the damage had already been done. He might have been imagining it but he remembered Liesl and Friedrich's look of shock when he had started singing. Marta and Kurt's disbelief. Even when he had gotten married again to Maria, his eldest two especially had always been quick to keep the little ones quiet as if a noise or two would send him back to Vienna.

He wondered if his children would ever now just what he was prepared to do for them or if his temporary lapse of parenting had left them wondering. The thought of them, his two daughters hold up in a cell somewhere wondering If he would come after them was almost as distressing as the thought of what might be happening to them.

He gritted his teeth and forced himself to keep on walking. How they had managed to escape for so long he did not know but he only hoped that the sisters had not paid the price. He did not know how far Herr Zeller might go in his anger and Georg knew that this was a man who had held two girls at gunpoint in the middle of a train station.

* * *

Finally though as he kept walking he could see the light shining in the abbey a sure sign (as Maria had once told him) that the sisters were awake and always ready to receive poor travellers for the night. He wondered how long that would keep going on for before even simple acts of charity like this were looked down upon with suspicion.

He knocked once on the door. The gate didn't look to damaged and that had to be a good sign. There was no guard here and he supposed that too had to mean that the sisters had escaped suspicion at least for the moment. He was glad. He didn't know how he would look his wife in the eye again if something had happened to one of the only families she had ever considered her own.

The door opened a crack and he could see it was the Mother Superior herself. Two nuns were clustered behind them and Georg had to laugh because they were holding in their hands two large planks of wood.

"Captain Von Trapp" the older woman said opening the door and Georg slipped gratefully in.

"What on earth are you doing here at this time of night? Where is Maria and the children?"

It took him several tries before he could speak he had to admit and even when he did his voice came out a little shaky.

"Maria and five of my children escaped. They have two…Herr Zeller he took my two daughters, Liesl and Brigitta."

There was a shocked gasp and he saw one of the nuns cross herself. The Mother Superior looked horrified and locked the door leaning heavily on it her eyes closed in what he thought might be prayer.

Georg paused. Time was of the essence here and he didn't have a lot of it.

"I don't know where he is" he confessed. The Mother Superior nodded her head. "I will send one of the sisters into the town tomorrow and make discreet enquires, under the guise of feeding the poor." She held up her hand. "You may stay here tonight Captain. There is nothing you can do anyhow, I fear soon enough we will be placed under a restrictive curfew and there are enough soldiers patrolling the streets and cars at nearly every road. Soon I fear they will begin rounding up people that they fear might dissent and it will be at night that they do it first"

Georg nodded. If he was being honest with himself he was hardly hearing her. His brain seemed to have turned to mush ever since he had found out that two of his daughters had been taken captive. He was vaguely aware of the Mother sending the two nuns out of the room and then forcing him to sit down and the sound of what sounded like water being put into a kettle and being put onto boil. He didn't mean to think rude thoughts but if it wasn't something stronger than tea then he wasn't sure if he could drink it.

He finally forced his legs in a chair. He had to sort his brain out. He could be the terrified father when he had both of his girls in his possession and then he could try and figure out the rest. He had contacts and he had money, there would be some way he was sure for him to get out the country. But he was useless until he had his children and until he had that the part of him that had been for so long…that still was in some respect…a damn good Navy Captain was refusing to reconcile with the part of him that was a terrified father.

Shit.

The Mother Superior heaved herself into a chair next to him. He couldn't look up and meet her expression, he knew it would be full of both kindness and pity and he couldn't stand the idea of either one of them right now. All he wanted was to be on the train currently speeding through the countryside and the hills until it reached a neutral country with Maria and the rest of his children…with all seven of his children. He wanted nothing more than that. It was funny really how it was only when he started paying attention to his children… when he had really started paying attention to his children for the first time in years-that this happened.

He was slowly beginning to become aware in these last few frightened hours of the damage that had been caused by his years of distancing himself, of separating himself from the children whenever they were too loud or too…childlike. Of forcing them to wear uniforms and commanding them like they were soldiers. Though that might be their saving graces. He had taught Liesl in particular a lot of things that he had known about on ships, how to break open locks and so forth but to be honest he didn't know whether or not that would do her much good. Liesl was perhaps one of the smartest out of all his children and he was sure that unless she could guarantee an escape that did not see her sister hurt then she would likely leave well alone.

He could reconcile he knew to shooting someone to escape if that was what it took but fundamentally he knew his daughters never could and for that he was glad. He was desperately glad that they could at least-in a world that was going dark overnight it seemed-maintain some form of innocence.

"It is not your fault" she said finally and he turned forgetting that the Mother had been there for a moment.

"Yes it is" he said finally.

"No my child it is not, there is a wickedness in this country, in Europe, a wickedness I fear will lead to another war. I remember the last one, the turmoil that it brought, the changes, I remember what it was like. And this one will be worse"

Georg nodded. It was nothing new to him. He had known for a long time that the only way to stop Hitler and the Nazi's were to engage in a war that would make the last one look like a little scrap. He had sons of his own this time and he couldn't deny the thought had crossed him mind more than once. Europe and perhaps the world was gearing up for another war and another generation would die in the mud or at sea or in the air and there was nothing he could do but choose what side he wanted to be on. And now Herr Zeller was forcing his hand in taking his children as counters in the game.

That had never happened before either.

How many ghosts had he been haunted by?

"And I pray that you and your family will escape the horrors that I fear the next decade will bring"

Georg nodded as the woman placed her hand on top of his. Georg was reminded suddenly that it was late, and all he had on him was a damn pistol and his passport, he had money of course but now when everything was a question of bribery would it be enough?

"There is a small bed we use for travellers just off the corner of this room and safe for prying eyes. Sleep there tonight and I will send someone out as soon as it is light to find news of where Herr Zeller might be keeping your daughters" she said in her soft tone that seemed to make even the most horrifying of situations sound like it could be easily fixed.

Georg nodded. She didn't bother saying goodnight, perhaps she knew he had no words left in him and he let her led him to the small bed in the small tucked away room and he lay down on the clean sheets feeling utterly exhausted trying not to desperately imagine where his daughters were laying their heads tonight.

Tonight indeed Georg Von Trapp knew he had much to many ghosts to forget and forgive.

* * *

 **And there it is, i hope i will update sooner than i have done but please stay tuned.**

 **Next Chapter-As Liesl gets the shock of her life in prison, Brigitta strives to distract her sister, meanwhile Georg begins to gather everything together in order to find his children.**

 **And let me know what you think, reviews are always welcome.**


	5. Ghosts of Things Past

**Hi, so here is another chapter, i have to apologise for the lateness but i had a nightmare of an essay to complete and that took priority, As i have said my uni work takes up a lot of focus and i hope to update more regularly but i am not making promises.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just this plot bunny.**

 **Also i know there was supposed to be a point with Georg in this chapter but there will be a couple of chapters from his point of view so therefore i will leave it till then.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

* * *

Uprising

Chapter 5-Ghost of Things Past

As Liesl gets the shock of her life in prison, Brigitta strives to distract her sister and Liesl must answer her sister's doubts about her father even though she's not sure if she can.

* * *

Brigitta had fallen asleep. She had tried to stay awake for as long as she could but Liesl had laid her younger sister's coat on the floor and then wrapped her own around both of them and even thought that didn't do anything to deal with the cold and the damp that were seeping into the dark cellar her sister feel asleep and her shivering stopped somewhat when she did.

Liesl didn't sleep the entire night. She kept her eyes trained on the door the entire night until the sun started peeking through the high window that had no lock and a too steep drop for them to jump, She had noticed the pane of glass when the sun had started shining through but she had spent the entire night watching the door or her sister and she was tired and by now the adrenaline had turned to dread.

She had begun to seriously start thinking about what would happen to them. She knew Herr Zeller would want to keep them alive until her father got here. She genuinely believed that he would come for them, but she couldn't see a way out of the situation they were in when all three of them were together. She knew they would ship him off to one of those military bases that for the years of the first war, her parents had lived together as a newly married couple. She didn't know if Herr Zeller would let them go or send them with him. She hoped it was the latter. Deep down she knew that she should be praying for freedom but Liesl would much rather be with her father than she would on her own trying to find a place in a country that had pretty much gone to hell overnight.

Brigitta woke slowly and Liesl smiled. She had unplaited her sister's one braid, so her dark hair fell down to her mid back. She had always been like that Liesl noted to herself. She, Louisa, Marta most assuredly had all been morning people, it had been her brothers that had laid around in bed most mornings, even her youngest sister was up out of bed desperate to play. It was always Brigitta that had been the one however that without fail someone would have to drag out of bed.

Brigitta stretched like a cat in her sleep and Liesl watched fondly as her sister opened her eyes and blinked once or twice. For a second, for a split second it didn't matter what was going on because Brigitta was still the same innocent ten year old who thought she was safe in her own bed in her own home and that perhaps they would go up to the quiet peaceful mountains and sing a song with their new mother.

And then it all came crashing down.

She could see it. Liesl could see the exact moment Brigitta took in their surroundings with her big dark eyes. She turned her face frightened before she caught sight of her sister and she relaxed. Liesl sat up ignoring the slight numbness in her elbow from where she had been leaning on it and she ignored the creaking in her back. Sleeping on cold floors even with a thin coat as a barrier was not easy on the back. She swallowed again managing a smile even if her throat was as dry as sandpaper and she knew it had nothing to do was thirst.

"Liesl I'm scared" Brigitta whispered. Liesl nodded curling her arms around her sister so that she was locked in her arms. "Me too" she whispered back and Brigitta clutched back.

Now that there was light in the room Liesl looked around. Indeed, there was nothing that would help them escape this place. The room was mostly decorated with boxes and there were no metal tools or anything that Liesl could think of that would pry open the door. She had learnt how to pick locks from Rolf and then she had to stop that line of thought right there and then because thinking about Rolf hurt too much. Liesl knew however that there was nothing that could help her escape here though. The entire thing was pointless. They were completely at the mercy of the enemy because she knew that even if she could escape this room there were too many guards, too many men with guns in the surrounding area's and there was no way that Brigitta could keep up.

So now it seemed all they had do was wait.

The door opened then and a guard came in. Brigitta scrambled back into Liesl's arms and she looked up defiantly at the man that had come into the room. He was about her father's age and decorated with enough medals to melt into a set of knives and forks. He didn't smile but there was a softness to him when he took them in that made Liesl think that perhaps not all of the German Army were evil. Sure they had invaded Austria and taken them hostage but she remembered her father telling her once that soldiers did what they were told to do and did not question the orders and that was why when the punishments came down the top Generals were the ones in his opinion that should be punished-she remembered because it was the longest conversation they had ever had before she had turned fourteen.

At their feet he dumped what looked like two glasses of water, some bread, some cheese and two cookies. She eyed him for a second and then decided to speak.

"How long will we be staying here?" She eyed his rank for a second and the decided to take a wild guess in the dark. "Major?"

The puffing out of the man's chest told Liesl that she had gotten his rank right and when he spoke the accented Austrian was so thick she had call upon all of her German lessons to understand what he was saying.

"I believe until your traitor father arrives. What will happen to you then I cannot speculate."

Brigitta opened her mouth perhaps to answer hotly that their father was not a traitor but Liesl dug her fingers into her sister's arms to shut her up. There was a time and a place for standing up for the family name and a time and place to shut up-and if something was to happen to Brigitta because of their love for their father the man himself would kill them she thought wryly.

"I am Major Von Kempt, I am in charge of your security" Liesl resisted the urge to roll her eyes and spit with incredible difficulty. Security indeed. Brigitta winced next to her and somewhat confident her sister would shut up Liesl let go of her arms.

"I am to escort you to the facilities should you need to relieve yourself" He said and Liesl noticed that he was rather uncomfortable. She didn't want to laugh because she thought that might get her shot but she did not with a horrible kind of glee that a man that must have had an illustrious military career seemed to be struggling with the idea of taking and watching two girls go to the bathroom.

The Major coughed again and Liesl flicked her eyes back to him with a sort of board expression she generally employed whenever she was asked where her mathematics homework was in boarding school. Brigitta's hand found hers again.

"Also I can assure you that while you are under my…observation…there will be no cause for harm to yourself or your sister. My men will be instructed to treat you with respect and will not…interfere with you or your sister you have my word as a German gentlemen and as an officer." He nodded and clicked his heels together and Liesl suddenly remembered her father doing the exact same thing at the ball only a month or so ago when he had invited the High Admiralty. She realised what he was saying and had to look away. She was not a woman who was overcome in the moment by a sentimental thought-she had been too long alone without either her mother or her father to allow herself to go soft, Here she was surrounded by enemies, alone with her sister and she couldn't afford some much as a second of weakness. She could lower her guard down whenever her father arrived.

"I thank you Major" she said finally working to move her throat.

The man nodded and then left and Liesl took a deep breath trying to quell her nerves and the bile that was rising steadily in her throat.

"Liesl?" Brigitta asked from her side.

"What did that man mean…interfere with us?"

Liesl shook her head silently wondering how the hell she was going to explain. This was why she needed someone here with her, her father, her mother, her birth mother, some adult…any adult that meant that she didn't have to be strong and try to explain to her ten year old sister that what the Major had meant but she found she couldn't speak. She swallowed again and then managed a smile that she knew Brigitta would know that was fake and shook her head.

"Don't worry, just means that we might have to be alone for a while until Father comes and finds us"

It wasn't what it meant-it meant that they-well Liesl was in more danger than she could possibly imagine and that she would not be getting sleep tonight either.

She stretched her legs and looked around. Brigitta shivered next to her again and then Liesl moved for the bread and cheese. She was hungry and she was thirsty and she knew that Brigitta was the same. They shared the food but she wanted to keep some of the water back in case this was the last time today that they were given some sort of provisions.

Brigitta leaned back against the wall next to her and Liesl wrapped the coat around them for the second time that day.

"Liesl…tell me honestly…do you think that Father will come for us?"

Liesl turned to see her sister who had her eyes on the wall opposite.

"Absolutely he will"

"Because there was as a time when…well…you know…he wouldn't come for us…like that time Louisa was sick and they wanted to ring for him"

Liesl remembered and then shrugged. "I know that he should have come then" she said carefully "And I know that he didn't, Father was grieving Mother then but he has changed, you know that you've seen it, Mother…Maria has changed him, he's not going to leave us."

Brigitta bit her lip and then nodded. Liesl turned away to hide her expression. She knew her father would come for them and she knew that he would have some sort of a plan and she had to hold out hope for that because she wasn't strong enough to do this on her own. Already she felt sick and tired and confused and that was probably nothing compared to what Brigitta was feeling.

Her father would come looking for them. Of that she knew.

"Liesl" came a voice to her left and she looked up to see Brigitta watching her. With her hair loose around her face she looked impossibly young. Liesl smiled but she hoped against hope that her sister wasn't about to ask another question that she didn't know the answer too.

"I'm sorry about Rolf"

Liesl blinked. "How did you…?"

"I saw you sneaking in more than once after we got a telegram, plus Louisa found your contraband red lipstick and the rest was just from watching"

Huh.

"You're a lot smarter than I gave you credit for aren't you?"

Brigitta managed to smile.

"Thank you" she said hugging her sister closer.

* * *

They were still sitting there when the door opened and a soldier came in. He was wearing a uniform that she had seen before and when Liesl looked up she saw his face under the cap.

For a second she couldn't breathe, she couldn't think, she couldn't even see past his face. The last time she had seen that face it had been twisted with hatred and he had, had a gun pointed directly at her father's heart.

It was Rolf, her boyfriend, the boy that she had first fell in love with all those months ago when everything seemed perfect, the boy that had become a man filled with hate. He was here, he was working for Herr Zeller.

The gall of it was that Liesl who had already been betrayed by this boy too many times to count, once again felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest.

* * *

 **Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon.**

 **Next Chapter-Liesl attempts to comprehend another betrayal, Herr Zeller demands answers and Brigitta wonders if they will ever be rescued while trying to be the bigger sister. **


	6. Love the Way You Lie

**Hi, so here is another chapter, i do apologise for the lateness but as i have continually said uni work is my priority. **

**And here is the next chapter, i hope you all enjoy. **

**Disclaimer-Nothing is mine. **

**Please Read and Review **

**And don't worry, the next couple of chapters will be in Liesl/Brigitta's point of view and then we will have a big chunk of the story in Georg point of view. **

* * *

Uprising

Chapter 6-Love The Way You Lie

Liesl attempts to comprehend another betrayal, Herr Zeller demands answers and Brigitta wonders if they will ever be rescued while forced due to unforeseen circumstances to be the bigger sister.

* * *

There was a pause where the two of them stared at each other. Rolf stared at her and then Liesl looking at the first boy she had loved, the one safe place she had thought that she had during her childhood had to look away least she burst into tears. Brigitta who had been watching them slipped her hand into her sisters and the Liesl noted out of the corner of her eye that her sister was still glaring at the newly decorated Nazi soldier who had pointed a gun at their father's heart. The thought would have made Liesl proud however she was struck with such a deep sense of terror that she was forced to look down at her hand. She wished she had taken off her mother's ring now. She had grabbed it a long time ago from her mother's jewellery box when she had believed her father wouldn't notice and she stared at the simple gold band with the two emeralds surrounding the one diamond and she blinked back tears thinking about how she had not so long ago she had foolishly imagined Rolf giving her another ring,

He had been right she realised bitterly. She had been such a baby.

Rolf turned to the other soldier, The Major and they had a quick muted conversation. Rolf shook his head at something and Liesl knew suddenly what was coming. Rolf clearly had orders from someone and Liesl knew who it was. She also knew that there was no way in hell that Brigitta was going with her. While her heart hurt at the thought of leaving her little sister alone she did fundamentally trust the Major and there was no way that she could take Brigitta to Herr Zeller. This would be a battle of wits between the two of them and Liesl knew that her little sister would ultimately be a weakness even if she was trying to help.

"Herr Zeller commands your presence Fraulein Von Trapp". The Major said stiffly. Liesl nodded. She had been expecting this but to be honest she wasn't sure what it was about. There were too options that she could see either her father was in Switzerland in which case she and Brigitta were as good as dead or he wasn't in which case she might be able to buy her sister some safety. There was a pause where she sat for a second and then she nodded again standing up and smoothing her skirt not that that wouldn't do much good. Liesl hadn't looked at herself in the mirror in what would be now two days and she didn't hold out much hope for her appearance.

"My sister will not be going with me Major" she said ignoring Rolf and using her coldest voice possible by the years spent both at boarding school and as the mother (or near as damn it) to her siblings (whenever her governesses were absent or drinking or in more than one case both). The Major shot her a look and then nodded.

"I will stay outside the door Fraulein" He said finally "And nothing will happen to her" He nodded again, Liesl took that at his word, she didn't know why but she did and therefore she nodded again and bent down to Brigitta's level her sister all ready to argue when there was no time to do that.

"Listen to me" she said in the tone that always made her little sisters listen even Louisa.

"I am going to go and answer a few questions and you are going to sit here and wait until I get back and you are not going to cause trouble…Brigitta" she hissed through gritted teeth as she saw the independent streak that had made her sister so sperate to all the others rear it's head.

"I mean it. Please for me…"

Brigitta's dark eyes darted around the room, landed on Rolf for a second and then she nodded.

"You" she said in a voice that carried across the room to Liesl's ex boyfriend or whatever it was that he had been, "Better not try anything with my sister. She's better than the dirt you crawl on" And before Liesl could say anything she threw her arms around her waist, squeezed so hard that Liesl thought her ribs might break and then she was back in her corner of the room her arms wrapped around her knees and her eyes on the corner of the wall resolutely not looking at anyone. Liesl felt her heart throb even more in pain and she had to look away. She couldn't look at Rolf and she couldn't look at her sister and therefore she decided to focus on her hands as she nodded, once more to herself and she walked out of the room.

Rolf took one side of her and another guard took another and they all but frogmarched her up the stairs. There would be, Liesl knew, no chance to escape not that she was going to-she thought scathingly-considering that her sister was in the cellar all alone downstairs.

She resolutely did not look at Rolf as she was walked up the stairs, through the courtyard and into a corridor where what looked like rooms had been converted into offices. She swallowed again feeling her hands shake.

But Liesl was a Von Trapp and more than anything she was her father's daughter and her father had never shown fear…hell, he had never shown any emotion for the last few years. Instead she decided to focus on the office wall in front of her and tried to pretend that instead of fear which she so rightly should be feeling it was her heart that was breaking all over again whenever she thought that the man standing next to her had become her enemy instead of her first love.

Rolf opened the door and then departed without a word or even a look to her and Liesl stepped inside Herr Zeller's makeshift office and the door was shut behind her with a final snap.

How was it still possible Liesl wondered, to still feel betrayed by one man?

* * *

Brigitta did not say anything when the door opened again and Rolf came back in. She had leaned her head on her knees and closed her eyes and pretended that Liesl was in some sort of great romantic version of interrogation that she had read about in books where they were offered a glass of something before asked questions. In reality she knew it wasn't that simple but for years she had found her only peace in books and it had been a world where she could escape too and pretend that despite the fact that she had everything material she didn't really have very much when it came to her emotions.

Rolf sat down on the chair next to her placing another two mugs of water and what looked like some bread, cheese and chocolate. Brigitta curled her hands into claws around her knees and pretend that her whole body wasn't straining to move in the opposite direction whenever he so much as shifted in hers.

Honestly what was she supposed to say?

She straightened her legs out and then folded her hands in her lap her fingers interlocked and her nails digging little half moons on the back of her hand. She didn't doubt that she would eat little tonight. Ever since she had seen Herr Zeller's gun at the train station her stomach had been in knots and she had found more than once she had struggled to even drink anything. All Brigitta had been able to do since she had arrived was sleep and that was only because being awake was more of a nightmare to her than she was able to cope with.

"Your family has escaped" Rolf said quietly. So quietly that if the room had not been silent already Brigitta would have never have been able to hear him speak.

She looked at him unable to speak when she realised what he was saying. Mother, her brothers and sisters perhaps even her father had escaped. Brigitta should be happy indeed when she thought about her siblings being cramped up in this dank basement then she was. She couldn't believe that they had managed to escape but more than anything she was found herself filled with a terror so strong she had to clamp down on her bottom lip with both teeth in order to keep herself from vomiting the little bread and water that she had eaten and drank the night before.

Because that meant that they were on their own in this scary new Austria. How had the country that she had been born and raised and had called her own turn on them without warning? Brigitta counted herself a bit more informed about current events that most of her other siblings with perhaps the exception of Liesl and she knew that the flag with the black spider (as Marta had so named it) did make people like her father angry but made most people happy. Many Austrian's did think that they should be a part of Germany though why Brigitta did not know. It seemed that Rolf was one of those people and it also seemed that her father was not. Other than that Brigitta didn't understand what was going on but she knew that her country was gearing slowly towards an almighty row with Germany. Would there be another war? Would she have to see her brothers in uniforms marching off to kill other boys in uniforms?

Brigitta gave Rolf no indication that she had heard what he had said because in truth she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing how confused she was. Did that mean that father had gone with mother and left them? Or was he here? She wanted to believe desperately that he wouldn't leave them here alone, but she also wanted to believe that he was safe. The father that she had had for what it seemed for so many years of her life was now all but gone and someone new and happy in his place and Brigitta still had no idea how to accept it, was still waiting for the day that this happy life that she had been leaving would disappear and it was back to forced marches and whistles.

"Your father" Rolf said as if he could read her mind. "Has not escaped with them. He has gone into the wind but he is certainly still in Austria and in a week the boarders will be closed and there will be nowhere to go. Already the only trains we don't have men on are cargo trains"

He sounded boastful but Brigitta took note of the information carefully. The only trains not being searched and therefore the only trains easy to get on were cargo trains. They would go to allies of the new Nazi regime she thought but of the top of her head she couldn't think of any. She needed Liesl who read more papers than she did and understood more to answer that question.

Rolf apparently realising that he was getting nowhere stood up brushing his hands on the legs of his yellow trousers. Brigitta looked at him then and wondered what it was that Liesl had found attractive in him. He was certainly good looking of that she could see with those big blue eyes and the blonde hair but he was certainly no movie star in the magazines that Louisa pretended not to keep under the bed they shared.

There was a pause where she stared at him and he stared at her.

"We will find your father you know" he said suddenly "And one way or another he will be used as an example so that everyone will know that we are in charge now"

"You know" Brigitta said quietly. "I don't know what my sister ever saw in you. I really don't. you're just a…bas…bastard…"

Once she said the word she was somewhat surprised by herself. She had only ever heard her eldest brother say it once and that had earnt him a whack of their governess at the time, a phone call to their father and Friedrich half an hour in their father's study with a lecture on importance of being a man and having respect for those around them. Considering since then she had heard Louisa utter the female equivalent when their father had told them he was marrying the Baroness she didn't think the lesson had taken and it had just been another thing that they had resorted to in order to see their father for even a day in the long months that he had been in Vienna.

Rolf looked surprised and Brigitta took one moment to enjoy that victory before he was in her face so fast she bashed her head against the back of the wall. She bit her lip in a way where she didn't have to cry out and she forced a grimace on her face that was more bravado rather than any other emotion.

"You don't frighten me" she said very quietly. Rolf stared down at her for a second and then straightened up the ugly look on his face replaced by one of contempt.

"No" He said finally. "No, I can see that. Well it's your funeral you, stupid little girl, yours, your sister and with any luck your father's"

"How did you change so much?" Brigitta asked. "Liesl loved you"

Rolf stared at her for another long heartbeat.

"The world is changing you stupid child" he said finally. "I'm just changing along with it"

And with that he was gone out the door and up the corridor leaving Brigitta alone with her blood thrumming through her veins, adrenaline coursing through her and she leaned her bruised head back against the wall and let the tears she had been trying for so long fall down her face. She bit her lip and tried to get herself under control. Liesl was upstairs being interrogated by her ex-boyfriend and a man who wanted nothing more than their father dead. Liesl didn't need to be the strong one when she came back she needed Brigitta to be able to keep it together.

She didn't need Brigitta losing it. So with that the youngest Von Trapp wiped her eyes, grabbed the chocolate bar with one hand to offer it to her sister and waited her eyes on the door for when it opened again and for whoever it was that came through the door.

Sister, interrogator, executioner, father? Who knew.

Either way Brigitta Von Trapp would be ready for them.

Nobody would ever say a Von Trapp girl was afraid.

Not even some grubby Hitler Youth's boy who had broken her sister's heart and become part of this scary new world order.

She just hoped that it would all be over soon. Because Brigitta was unsure how long this being brave thing would last.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-Liesl and Herr Zeller go head to head in a deadly game of interrogation which leaves no stone unturned and creates a wave of hurt. **

**And let me know what you think, i will update as soon as i can. **


	7. Little Bit of Light

**Hi, so I apologies for the lateness of this chapter however I have been absolutely swamped with revision. to anyone sitting exams right now-good luck.**

 **Also, because my exams are so important I will try and do one more update before them-however if not I will be unable to update until the end of May-however I will be doing a multiple update after May of two or three chapters before I go away so don't worry. I will be back**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just this chapter and there is some violence in it. I took some liberties with Liesl's fact file but it all should work out-this story is based on the film and not on the real life people after all.**

 **Please read and review.**

* * *

Uprising

Chapter 7-Little Bit of Light

Liesl and Herr Zeller go head to head in a somewhat brutal interrogation that leaves no stone unturned, causes harm at every opportunity and creates a world of hurt.

* * *

There was nothing in the room but a desk and a chair. Liesl didn't even get an offer to sit down she was simply shoved into a chair and then had a gun trained on her before she could even open her mouth. Herr Zeller was not there. Neither was Rolf and the soldier left her alone in the room moving to stand outside. Liesl nodded to herself. She could handle this. This was nothing more than a meeting with the headteacher of her boarding school when she had found Liesl dangling spiders over their French grammar teachers bed because it had been her birthday and her father had yet to write to her. This was nothing-this was easy.

This was not nothing. This was not easy.

And not for the first time in her life Liesl wanted her father here with her.

Now that she was free from Brigitta, now that she was alone she found that for a brief second she could be something other than a daughter, a sister or the strong one that had to keep the little ones in line, in control, the one that had to get them dressed and make sure that Gretel didn't cry over supper or whatever it was that had always demanded her attention.

Now that she was alone she found that for once she could allow herself a minute to comprehend what had happened. She had fled from her country like a common criminal and had since then been captured with her little sister, had little sleep and nothing to eat and the only word she had had that her family had escaped to safety was from a Major and her ex-boyfriend who was now working with the new government to destroy the country she was once proud to call her own, she was trapped at the whim of a madman with a vendetta against her father and despite all she had claimed to Brigitta she was honestly not entirely sure when her father was going to come for her. If she ever got to see him again she was going to have to sit down with him and speak to him about how she felt when he had been grieving. Long ago she had denied that she would ever do that but considering what she had been through in the last few days, Liesl figured that she was at least owed a chance to voice her grievances.

But still she allowed herself a second where she closed her eyes and tried to gulp back her tears. And if a few of them shed…well…there was nobody around to see it was there?

The door opened then and Liesl took a deep breath trying to desperately get herself under control. She bit her lip and sat up a little bit straighter. This was not the headmistresses office. This was war and Liesl could only hope that this was the only battle that she and her family would have to face when it came to the war-though she wasn't hoping for much.

She swallowed down her fear and managed to not flinch when she saw Herr Zeller. The last time that she had seen him he had been pointing a gun at her and she was not surprised to see that he had not changed. The pinched smug smile on his face though told her something. While Herr Zeller knew he had the upper hand here her father had still not been in his clutches. Had he managed to capture the one man who had always outsmarted him Liesl knew the smugness would roll of him in waves.

Instead she decided to cross her legs and interlock her fingers and she tried to give Herr Zeller her most poisonous look. She wasn't sure if it had any effect but she had try.

"Ah if it isn't little Liesl" he said with a slow smile that made her sit up a little bit more, she could feel the muscles In her back protest at the pain but she refused to so much as even show one ounce of discomfort.

Herr Zeller reached for the file on the desk and opened it. "Liesl Agathe Von Trapp born, 3/4/1922, daughter of Captain Georg Von Trapp of the Imperial Navy and Agathe Von Klinke. The eldest of seven siblings including Brigitta Margarethe Von Trapp who is currently downstairs. You have a nice long school record of vandalism and on more than one occasion fighting and there's also the fact that your father is a vilified traitor of the new order"

Liesl blinked. She wanted to ask how the hell he had complied so much research on her but then she remembered that he had had a lot of time to do this and the world had gone topsy turvy and people were helping the Nazi's now due to intense fear. Instead of saying what she wanted to say-which included some very foul language in the three different ones she had studied she instead decided to look around and focus on anything that might show how board she was with this instead of absolutely terrified.

"Where is your father?"

"I told you, Switzerland as far as I know"

She had told him that before so it wasn't really a lie.

There was an eye roll.

"I know your family escaped you stupid girl. I know your mother and that rap pack your father called his children escaped on a train to Switzerland before I could stop them. I asked you a question. Where is your father?"

Liesl stared at him.

"Are you saying…" she managed hope making it difficult to speak and difficult to forget that she was trying to keep the information desperately to herself.

"That my father is still in Austria"

Herr Zeller moved then off his desk until he was sitting on the edge right in front of her. One arm came up and a finger stroked her cheek in a way that made Liesl shiver. It wasn't in the way that Rolf's touch once upon a long time ago had made her feel. He had tried to warn her then hadn't he? That some Austrians had wanted to be German and they were upset with the ones that didn't .

"Yes" he said gently though there was nothing but coldness in the tone.

"I am saying your father is in Austria looking for you"

Liesl couldn't look away not with his hand on her chin but she did uncurl her fists onto the chair. She smiled, she could not help herself but then she had barely any time to react when a pain so fierce shot through the side of her head and she felt her whole body turn with the force of the blow.

Herr Zeller upon seeing her smile had whipped her with his gun. She could feel the blood dripping from her head and the angry, throbbing in her cheek that was getting worse with each second. The urge to sob was overwhelming and again Liesl felt more blood in her mouth from her lip from where she had clamped down in order to force herself to not make any noise.

Herr Zeller grabbed her by the face so that she was looking at him again.

"He escaped and now he's looking for you. He's going to come here Von Trapp because I didn't make it hard for him and he has a brain and then I am going to take him and make him into a good Nazi and the first test for him will be weather or not he will still be standing when a put a bullet through your head."

Liesl might have whimpered a bit in fear at that. She couldn't help it. A part of her that had tried for so long to deny that she had any fear for herself was screaming that she was in real danger here. She could not see a way out of this and even as she felt her cheek throb in pain she found that away from her sister all she wanted to do was to cry and scream in pain and frustration and most importantly fear.

Fear that she would never get to see the woman who had become a mother to her in such a short space of time even if she felt guilty about loving someone other than her own. She had long ago pretended that she had never needed any other mother in her life-governess, maid, friend whatever it was. But here and now having been told her father had escaped from certain capture and was still out there looking for them regardless of his actions in previous years, Liesl found herself thanking a God she was on absent terms with at the best of times for that little bit of light that both she and her sister had so desperately needed.

Now at the very least she could tell Brigitta something. She could tell her sister that she knew with certain truth that their father had not abandoned them. It was not much, but considering what they had been through in the last few days it was a little bit of light and Liesl would take that wherever she could get it, even if it came with her blood and her pain and her skin marred with bruises.

"Thank you Herr Zeller" she said with genuine meaning. "For telling me that my father still cares, for both me and my sister it means a lot. I shall not forget it, even when we leave this place, even when you lose this war the Nazi's want so badly to start. Even when you are dea and long gone and history will forget you in favour of other men. I shall not forget you gave me this hope."

It was the perfect insult to give to a man like that Liesl thought, it was the perfect the look on the old Nazi's face. The look of a man who had been caught out by a woman who was younger than him. His hand lowered to her neck and the pressure he put on it was enough to make Liesl begin to choke. The two of them stared at each other before Herr Zeller threw his hand away from her neck and she fell half of the edge of her chair unable to keep herself from coughing or spluttering.

"Take her to back to the empty room" was all Herr Zeller said in disgust.

"Captain" he said to the young man who half dragged Liesl to her feet.

"I think a more direct approach is needed until Captain Von Trapp arrives. Keep the two of them separated"

Liesl's throat was still sore and stiff and therefore she couldn't scream with ease. She was half dazed with shock and she didn't even realise that she was being dragged away into a smaller room with no window and no way of getting to her sister sat all alone. She was dropped unceremoniously to the floor and she was forced to stay on her knees still gasping for breath, her neck bruised, her head throbbing from where the pistol had whipped her, her heart aching from being separated from Brigitta and enough fear running through her veins to make her cry.

That fact was clear when she managed to sit up and she realised her face was wet with tears and blood that was rapidly drying. She managed to force her shaking hands to her face and she wiped them away before they could be replaced.

There was one thing, despite the fear and the tears and the pain that both her body and her heart was radiating, one thing that Liesl Von Trapp was clinging too above anything and everything else.

Her father was free.

Her father was looking for them.

Her father would come for them.

And not for the first time Liesl longed to see him. She realised what was different when she was sat on the floor In that small room alone-different from all the other times that she had wanted him here with her.

This was the time that she knew for sure he was going to come for her and her sister.

And that was a sure little bit of light for her to reach out and cling on.

* * *

 **And let me know what you think.**

 **Next Chapter-Georg Von Trapp finally arrives, there is a deadly confrontation with Herr Zeller that ends in tragedy for someone. **


	8. Said the Spider to the Fly

**Hi, so another chapter is here. Again this is part of a multiple update and the next chapter will develop on the end of this cliffhanger.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just this plot.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

 **Also anything about Georg's past in the military is based purely on speculation and some historical fact.**

* * *

Uprising

Chapter 8-Said the Spider to the Fly

Georg Von Trapp finally arrives, there is a deadly confrontation that shows secrets coming to light and a fight of words with Herr Zeller that ends in tragedy for someone.

* * *

It had not been that hard to find Herr Zeller. In fact it had been too easy. One simply had to ask where his headquarters were and one got the answer. Georg had said goodbye perhaps forever to the home his wife had treasured for so long and the sisters who had become family-receiving a final blessing and the promises of prayers and then had set off with his stomach in knots.

Herr Zeller however was making this too easy. He reminded Georg of the Captain he had once served under before his own commission in the Navy. He too had been filled with arrogance and made his mistakes simply by trying to prove that he was the one in charge. When you did that you made yourself open to a lot of mistakes and it was easy to learn how to be rectify them.

He had spent the entire day watching the comings and goings of the compound. There was a street opposite it and then an ally and if he could get his girls into that ally then there might be a chance that they could stay hidden until he could get them out of the town. There was a pause where he had watched the guards. Herr Zeller seemed to be surrounded by his own personal guard and a lot of them looked to be young Hitler's Youth and a couple of older officials that he bet they were there in order to keep the newly in charge official in line because Herr Zeller had, had a reputation for a long time before Georg had met him and he was for lack of a better word-deluded.

But in his observations he had learnt somethings. There was a lack of soldiers and all of them were armed with side-arms, there were no machine guns which were a plus and Georg was willing to bet that not many of the younger guards had fired a weapon and if they had it would not have been at anything other than a very close range. And that was a another good thing.

But there was still one thing that he had not counted on and that was his self control and more importantly he had no idea of what conditions either one of his daughters were in. For all he knew they could be hurt, incapacitated or the very worst thing humanly possible that he could imagine-they could not be there-being held at a location and nothing could prepare him mentally for that kind of agony.

Not if he wanted to continue physically going forwards.

Right now he was watching from the back of a car the comings and goings of the entire compound. There was one door and a lot of empty cars around and he could easily slip the lock on one. He looked around, in his pocket he had the numbers for his bank account in Switzerland and he still had enough cash to get them over the border. Once in another country he could access his account and draw on some more cash and could get to his family-and he would cross that bridge when he came to it-and with any luck and a lot of nuns praying for them, he might just escape this and he and his family could wait out the war.

But he still had to find his daughters first.

And that meant at the very least fighting in a way he hadn't done since his thirties and at the very worst preparing to sell his soul to the devil in order to save his children.

He crossed the square then and felt around for his pistol. That would be taken from him he knew but Georg was still a soldier at heart even if he had spent the majority of the war on a boat and he knew that there were other concealed places that one could keep a weapon without it being discovered. Inexperience had cost the Nazi's in this case and Georg knew (because he had spent so much time reading and lying awake thinking about what was going to happen-he had two sons after all) that inexperience would cost them in the long run more and more if this conflict continued.

He didn't do anything foolish like knock on the door, that was a sure way to get himself shot. Instead he waited patiently at the gates until one of the guards saw him and came at him pistol raised. He supposed it might have been simple but he had to play the part of a beaten and broken man and there was only one real way to do that and that was to pretend that the man that he hated above all others had won.

"Really" Georg said as he was patted down and handcuffed and had his gun taken of him. "Boy" And he really was a boy wasn't he? The only person who had a pistol trained on him and his partner-neither one could be older than eighteen and Georg was suddenly painfully aware of Friedrich and what Maria had said-that one day he would look at his two eldest more than any and see that they had grown up and he had missed it. He had lost a lot of good friends in the last war in order to stop a second one and now he had a crushing feeling that it was all for nothing.

"Boy if you were on my ship I can assure you it wouldn't be for long. There are so many ways I could have killed the two of you by now…you should both be thankful that I care more about my children than anything you could ever understand"

And with that he allowed himself to be dragged away down a hallway and into a large room. There was no way of seeing where either one of his daughters were, there was a door leading to a corridor but that was guarded by one more guard. With Herr Zeller that left four to take if it was needed and none of them loaded with anything more than a handgun. If he got one of them and shot well (which he could do a damn sight better than these children) then that left Herr Zeller and while Georg didn't want to hurt boys that could have been his son regardless of the uniform they wore then there was a genuine chance that it would just be him and Zeller and he was sure that the odds were in his favour that he could take him.

If there were more then he was in real trouble.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the door opening and he saw steps that led downwards. It was clear that the only way that he could successfully get his daughters out was if they were brought to him and he could get them to the door he had just been dragged through.

Herr Zeller was reading a piece of paper at his desk. He did not so much as look up when the guards forced him to stand still and Georg felt nothing but irritation mixed in with the constant fear and anger that had been clawing around his whole body since he had looked at his children and realised that two were missing.

He resisted the urge to throw some rather foul language and reminded himself calmly (a voice in his head that sounded a little too like his wife for his own comfort) that his children had to come first. And if that meant biting his tongue then that was what he would do.

Herr Zeller finally looked up and sat back in his chair and Georg resisted the urge to roll his eyes with perhaps the most intense difficulty he had ever experienced. Herr Zeller was trying to pretend that he was a man of great importance and that Georg was nothing to him but another problem that needed to be crossed off on his way to wining the war between him and the world and Georg who had spent most of his entire military career either working with or more than likely working under men such as this and knew he was failing, clearly.

There was a pause where the two of them looked at each other and then Herr Zeller finally spoke in a voice dripping with smugness that made Georg curl his hands into fists. He closed his eyes for a brief second and thought of his daughters, Liesl and Brigitta, his girls who were the only two in his family who had inherited his first wife's particular shade of dark eyes.

"Well Captain Von Trapp, we meet again. As you can see this time there is no Austrian flag-only the flag of the Nazi party." He pointed at the flag behind him and Georg noticed for the first time that the red and black were hanging from behind his desk. This time he couldn't even hide the distain he felt now. His lip curled but he still didn't say anything. He stood ramrod straight and looked down at the man that was holding his children hostage in his war games.

"Where are my children?" He said finally through gritted teeth. The urge to see his children, to look upon them and ensure that they were not hurt physically…to hold them in his arms as much for his benefit as for theirs was overwhelming.

"Safe" Was all Herr Zeller said. Considering he had been the one that had put them in this position that wasn't really very much. Georg took a deep breath and resisted with another violent urge the desire to try and see how far he could get with punching this odious little man before he was stopped.

"My children have nothing to do with this…vendetta…between the two of us and you know it" he said finally. "They are innocent. You can do what you want with me but you can let them go"

"Let them go?" It was if he had said something particularly funny and Georg felt another bubble of panic rise in him only to quash it before it became obvious what was happening. The longer he kept this man talking he knew the more he would give away.

"Let go the children of a known traitor to Austria? Tell me Captain if you were serving under my command would you have let them go? This is being said from the Spider to the Fly?"

Georg ignored that dig at his service record which had been his whole life since he had turned sixteen and wanted to see what was beyond the while alps-a lanky teenager with pointed elbows and a lot of anger had been what he had been and he had thrived in the Navy like so many boys do when they had a decent meal and something to do for the first time in their lives. Instead he closed his eyes for a second, imagined what Maria would say to him if he was there right now, thought for the briefest second and Agathe who was so like Liesl and how he had never noticed until the moment where both of them could be gone and then opened his eyes.

Whatever he was about to say was rudely cut off when a soldier opened the door. He was clutching some kind of file and he whispered something in Herr Zeller's ears. Georg watched with interest picking up on anything and everything. Herr Zeller looked furious and then muttered something in German. Georg whose own German was not quite fluent struggled to understand it but got hold of the word _'dispose'_. Herr Zeller turned around then and smiled at him with all his teeth showing.

"Perhaps Captain Von Trapp you will get to see your daughters tonight"

And then there was a clear shot into the still afternoon. A gunshot, a kill shot considering that it was not repeated and then in the still moment where everything was still golden Georg heard a scream pierce the air. A female…one of his daughter was screaming. It was one clear sound and then it died away as if the person had died away.

And Georg didn't hear anything else for a very long time.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-The events of what happened in the previous chapter are explored and someone is about to die.**

 **Yeah not so much a cliffhanger as the next chapter should be published with this one so...enjoy and let me know what you thought. **


	9. Hope for the Best

**Hi, so here is another chapter and with any luck one more should be following. This is the exact same chapter as the previous one only told from a separate point of view.**

 **Also the prayer at the end of the chapter is the Lord's Prayer. This is added because typically Christianity would have been Lisel's religion.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

* * *

Uprising

Chapter 9-Hope for the Best

The events of what happened in the previous chapter are explored and someone is about to die.

* * *

Liesl had been sat in the dark for what felt like hours. In fact it probably was hours come to think of it. She bit her lip feeling the cut ache beneath her teeth and she found that instead of pulling away from the pain she was forcing herself to use it for concentration. She was on her own now, and more importantly that meant Brigitta was on her own. The room was plunged into darkness and she shuddered a little as she looked around.

She tried to breath but she found that she was struggling to. She was on the verge of having a panic attack Liesl knew. This was not the first time that she had been on the edge of this moment, too many governesses, too many brothers and sisters depending on her for answers and too many memories about her mother had brought about more panic attacks than she would care to admit even to herself but she found this one was worse. Usually she could breath her way out of it but her side and shoulder were throbbing from where she had been thrown against the wall and her cheek and lip were still bleeding heavily.

She had to breathe. Everything counted on her just simply taking a breath and hope like hell for the best outcome that was possible under these new and agonising circumstances. Brigitta was on her own, she was hurt, Herr Zeller still held all of the cards and Liesl was nowhere near to fixing or seeing a solution to this mess. She was completely and utterly powerless in the grand scheme of things and for that reason she was really beginning to struggle to breath.

She leaned back against the wall her head resting on clammy stone and forced herself to breath in through her nose rather than through her mouth. It stopped the dizziness if only for a second and she managed to get some air into her lungs. Once she had established something resembling breathing she managed to wipe her hands across her face that was wet with both blood and tears.

She placed her head to the stone floor and breathed in, surprisingly that worked thought it never had before she noted. Finally, Liesl looked up once her breathing was finally under control and her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. The room was smaller (if that was even possible) than the one that she had been in before with her sister. There was a window however even if it was high up. It was small, but the light indicated that it was day time and she sat up moving around so she could try and stand on something to see if there was anything outside that indicated where in this compound they were.

Liesl managed to find a small stool where she could stand on and peer just over the edge of the window before she had to drop down because her arms were aching. Nothing she thought bitterly dropping down to the floor again. Nothing but an empty courtyard where she couldn't see any clear way out. And that didn't help the fact that she was utterly and completely alone when it came to how she was going to get back to her sister.

And her cheek was hurting like nothing had ever hurt before. Somehow Liesl knew without even having to check that she was going to have one hell of a bruise. She dropped back down to the ground and curled her legs under her least she start pacing and drive herself even more mad than she already felt.

The door opened then creaking and showing some light. Again nothing but a dark corridor and nothing of note before the door slid shut again. Liesl pressed herself against the wall determined not to make a sound. For all the Major's assurances that nobody would touch her or Brigitta she knew Herr Zeller was under a different view and she was for the time being alone.

Well she thought biting down on her lip so hard she felt blood bubble out of the cut (she welcomed it…welcomed the pain as it allowed her to focus) they were not going to get her without a fight and a scream or too. Just as she was about to press even further into the wall there was a scrambling sound and the light flickered on via several small candles.

It was Rolf.

They stood at the opposite ends of the room watching each other when only three months or so ago they would have run into each other's arms. Liesl was suddenly well aware that she was bleeding, dirty, very close to tears and trembling with fear. Rolf was still looking haughty in his uniform and Liesl wondered if he was indeed so dedicated to the regime he had now joined that he didn't feel any remorse for what his higher ups had done.

"Is Brigitta ok?" she asked finally. She and Rolf had been friends once after all, there was no reason why not even know she couldn't try and be polite with him. After all he had the gun and she most certainly did not. No need to do anything too stupid she thought to herself-again there was that voice that sounded so like her Mothers, both the new and the old.

Rolf didn't say anything and Liesl was suddenly struck with fear that curdled in her belly and nearly made her throw up.

"She's fine" he said finally. "Or I think she is. Herr Zeller doesn't want to see her if that's what you mean"

He wasn't looking at her and a lifetime of knowing the telegraph boy before he was this hard and calculated soldier made Liesl relax and then tense again as she took in his actions.

"But…" she prompted.

Rolf didn't say anything. He didn't even look at her and Liesl felt anger unlike anything she had ever felt before boil up inside of her, hot and unforgiving.

"Rolf!" she snapped and she was more than amused deep down in some twisted sort of fashion to see him jump when he heard her shout his name.

"Your father is here" was all he said.

Liesl started like a gun had gone off in the room and her knees buckled for a brief second before she reached out and gripped the edge of the wall. Rolf watched her with a curiously blank expression but all Liesl could think of was that her father had come for her.

For the first time since that damn train station she didn't have to be the brave one. Brigitta had been right in her childish faith and Liesl had been wrong in her jaded belief-her father…their father had come for them and if Herr Zeller was telling the truth then her family were safe and sound in Switzerland waiting for the three of them to join them all.

She took a deep breath and then the laugh came out of her before she could even think to stop it. They had beaten Herr Zeller. She and Brigitta had beaten him-she had only thought to keep her sister alive and safe until their father or someone would rescue them and he had arrived. Oh it wasn't over-not by a long shot, they were still in an incredible amount of danger but at least they were together, and at least she was not alone.

And that was something that Liesl was going to cling to with every fibre of her being.

At least until she could see her father again.

"It doesn't mean your going to escape. It doesn't mean that your father's…views are right or that he's not going to have to serve his time in the Navy. Imperial Austria is gone now Liesl" And at this point his tone became almost pleading.

"Austria is now going to be a part of Germany. As we should be. Germany is going to make us a great nation again" He spoke all of this in a board monotone as if it was something that he had overheard and been taught for a long time that this was the only thing that mattered to him. Liesl wondered what had happened in those months after the Germans had begun invading and patrolling-when she and her brothers and sisters and Uncle Max had been alone in the big house somewhat ignorant of the outside world. Rolf had not been the same since then, even before she remembered when he had kissed her how he had been talking about how 'some people' believed that they should be German.

Like hell though was that going to happen. Liesl did not know much about the Great War but she knew that her father did not like to talk about it and for a very good reason she was sure. Liesl Von Trapp was Austrian and she was _not_ going to be German because some man who vaguely resembled Charlie Chaplin told her she had to be.

And now looking at Rolf she could see that there was nothing in him that had first attracted her to him when she had been young and stupid.

Now he looked rather weak and childlike and Liesl felt nothing but pity for him. It was like saying goodbye to her childhood, the life she had lived post the German landings in Austria, post the Nazi's, post Maria coming to live with them. She was now a different person. She had gone from a girl to a woman.

She remembered what her mother had said. Her new mother. Maria. That one day she would wake up and realise that she had changed. Sixteen going on seventeen indeed she thought with a smile. Liesl bit her lip down on the pain that flared up inside her momentarily when she thought of both the mother she had lost and the mother she had gained.

"Rolf" she said looking at him. "Sometimes I feel sorry for you. For what you became…and…" she shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what to say to you…Goodbye I suppose. Either way I don't think that we will ever see each other again"

Rolf stared at her and Liesl stared back and then suddenly without warning the door opened. It was the Major. He held a file in his hand and without looking at her he gestured for Rolf. There was a conversation out in the hallway and Liesl sat down on the floor. If there was ever any chance that she was going to see either her father or her sister again then she was going to have to play to her strength and certainly the Major's strength seemed to reside in thinking she was the demure teenager that could easily be controlled.

He had left the door open with one arm. He was talking in such an accented Austrian that Liesl struggled to listen and she looked down at her skirt wondering if it was worth trying to get some sleep.

And that was when it happened.

The bang from the pistol made her scream in surprise and then when she saw what had happened she screamed again.

The Major had shot Rolf.

For an ageless second his body seemed to curve gracefully towards her. For an ageless second he seemed to be almost suspended and it was then that she saw the blue eyes of her first kiss, her first love, her last glimmer of childish innocence fall to the ground blood pouring from the hole in his head.

She had her hands over her mouth as the door slammed shut on Rolf's body and she barely crossed to the other side of the room before she threw up. She was sobbing, choking on bile and sobs and screams as her knees gave out in the small room and she lowered her head to the floor sobbing into her skirt.

They were going to die. All of them. Her. Her sister. Her father. All of them were going to die like Rolf, because if the ones that did conform willingly to Nazi ideology were killed by their own side then what hope did the people who wanted to stand against them have?

* * *

It was a long time before she stopped crying. It might have been hours or it could have been minutes of that Liesl was not sure. But she knew that she was trembling and she forced herself to sit back wiping her mouth on her sleeve.

It was then that she remembered the prayer. It was an old one, one she had not said since she was a child (and until the arrival of their last governess Liesl had never been the religious type anyway). The last time she had heard it her father had been saying it clutching her mother's limp hand in his own looking older than she had ever seen him unable to see his eldest daughter hiding behind the wooden door.

She could feel the tears mingling with the blood as her teeth chattered around the words but she managed to say them anyway.

 _"_ _Our father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name…"_

* * *

 **Next Chapter-In which there is a reunion, a hastily thought out plan and more than one shot fired.**

 **And let me know what you think **


	10. To Be With You

**Hi, so here is another chapter and i think this might be the last chapter before i lose my wifi for a couple of weeks so please enjoy this little cliff-hanger. Also there are seven more chapters left of this story.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

 **Also warnings for some gore and swearing. Also a lot of Georg's backstory is based on my own historical knowledge of the time.**

* * *

Uprising.

Chapter 10-To Be With You

In which there is a reunion, a hastily thought out plan and more than one shot fired.

* * *

There was a numbness in his brain that was spreading though his body. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before and that was including his time in the war and he had seen and done a lot in the war including on more than one occasion-injury.

But this pain…this was different. Herr Zeller had simply waved his hands and he had been dragged away his whole body shutting down as his brain tried to comprehend what had happened. Something had tipped Herr Zeller off and he had had someone shot.

And someone had screamed.

A female scream.

It had to have been one of his daughters and that meant…

That meant something wholly unthinkable.

It was either…

Georg had to pull himself out of that train of thought because his legs had just given out from under him. He winced as he was pulled down a corridor and his hands which had been forced behind his back were finally pulled loose. But before he could say or do anything he was shoved in a dark room and the door closed behind him.

He turned to bang on the door once but found that he couldn't speak. Since the shot and the scream had rang out in perfect unison he found that he couldn't seem to so much as form words in his throat. Best case scenario one of his girls was hurt…and the worst…well the worst didn't even bare thinking about.

There was a pause where he stood leaning against the door as he breathed in harshly trying to control his breathing. His eyes adjusted to the light more due to too many years having to endure lights out on his ship and being plunged into darkness. He had grown used to darkness when he used to stumble back to the room he would have shared with his late wife and couldn't bare turning the lights on to see first-hand her absence in a room his children used to frequent so many times for whatever reason. But this darkness…this possibility of losing his children was something Georg didn't think he would ever see through. He had only just managed to put the ghost of his wife to bed.

"Damn" he swore hitting the wall again.

There was a slight movement behind him like someone shifting against the wall and Georg whirled around hand finding the knife he had tucked into his belt that the boys-not much older than his eldest son-had never realised was there.

"Whose there?" He demanded shifting into a crouch. There was another second of pause as someone's breath hitched and then there was the sounds of someone standing up.

"Father?"

He stilled as that one word shocked him to the very essence of his being. He had heard that voice before. Nine times out of ten he had often received a short reply because her head had always been in a book. For a second, he couldn't seem to form words as something made his knees buckle and he had to lean his hand back against the door. The shadow moved closer and Georg could see the form perfectly. Could see the face perfectly and he had never been more thankful that the training officer he had had at the Naval Academy made them reassemble their weapons in the dark so that they would know how to see things with a near perfect clarity.

The name when it fell from his lips was more of a plea than a question.

"Brigitta"

"Father!" Brigitta yelled and then something hit him in the chest. It was his daughter the solid weight of her one of the most welcome things that he had ever felt. She wrapped both arms around his chest and despite the solid weight of the ten year old's not so inconsiderable weight he found that he could lift her up when he hugged her, her arms coming around his neck and holding on tightly in a way that she had never done so before. Brigitta even when she was little and he had been more open and…well…there with his children. But now she was clinging to him as if she was a little girl not much older than Gretel and Georg found himself gripping back his hands clawing over her dress and in her hair still in it's plat, strands of it loose around her face.

"I knew you'd come for us. I just knew it" Brigitta sighed happily as Georg finally stopped and dropped her down to the ground. As far as he could tell she was unharmed but the light was not good.

"Brigitta are you alright? Did they hurt you?" He had to physically swallow before he could finish the train of thought. "Did they touch you?"

"No" Brigitta said so firmly that Georg believed her. "The Major, or that's what Liesl called him anyway told us that he would ensure we were left alone. Liesl thought they wanted you. She wasn't sure if you would risk coming here-she didn't say it but she thought it I could tell but you are here" she said all of this in a rush and then threw her arms around Georg's waist so tightly that for a second he had trouble breathing.

It was one of the best feelings in the world he surmised. He would allow himself to wallow in the agony that his actions when controlled and dominated by grief had allowed both of his children to think that if they were in danger he would find something better to do some other time.

Right now was not the time to wallow in agony. Right now was the time to focus on getting his children to safety.

That reminded him of something sharply. He looked around now his eyes had adjusted clearly to the darkness.

Liesl was not here.

"Brigitta where is Liesl? Where is your sister?"

Brigitta's mouth gave a small twist.

"Herr Zeller wanted to question her so she went. I didn't want her to but Liesl said she would be alright. I haven't seen her since and that was…" she paused obviously calculating but Georg answered her with a growing fear settling like a hard knot in his belly. "Yesterday?"

"Yes" Brigitta said nodding. "Is…Is…Liesl alright?"

She sounded so impossibly young again that Georg didn't have the heart to tell her that someone had been shot at. If Brigitta didn't bring it up then there was no way that he was going to. The thought of Liesl being shot or even having a gun pointed at her was enough to make his throat close up and his hands tighten on the one daughter that he was able to protect even more.

"I am sure she's fine" he said even though each word felt like razor blades ripping up his throat. If Brigitta picked up on what each word was costing him then she didn't say anything about it. Instead she nodded and then she sniffed. Georg wrapped an arm around her and then tried to lighten his voice.

"Let's sit down for a bit alright? We can figure out a plan later"

Brigitta nodded and then sat down in a corner of the room. Georg followed her and saw that it was under the tiny window that neither one of his girls would have been able to reach no matter how hard Liesl would have tried. On the floor were two coats and he realised that they had been using them at blankets and he had felt another wave of anger rise that nearly threatened to overwhelm him mingling with the constant panic whenever his brain realised every few seconds that his eldest was somewhere and that someone had been shot.

Brigitta curled into his side and after ensuring she had her coat wrapped around her to keep her warm, Georg wrapped an arm around her tucking her into his side and she rested her head against his chest. He leaned back against the wall and breathed through his nose and tried to think of a plan. Brigitta shivered a bit more and pressed into his side and Georg pressed a kiss into her dark hair and let her move closer. In truth he needed to feel his daughter as close to him as possible as he was sure she needed him.

"Father" Brigitta asked finally. "Did mother and everyone get away?"

"Yes they did sweetheart" Georg said finally sending another prayer that Maria had heeded his advice and gotten safely over the boarder with his other children.

"The boarders are going to close soon" Brigitta said very quietly "The last trains are departing from the station by the end of the week and even then there only going to countries that think the same as the Nazi's." She said this in a small voice and Georg noted that his daughter who overthought even the most simplest of things had spent most of her time alone in this room going over ways in which she could escape the country she had been born and raised in and had called her own and had found no way.

"How do you know all of this?" he asked finally.

"I heard some of the officers talking from outside the door. Plus Rolf told me some"

"Rolf!" Georg shouted like a starting pistol. Brigitta jumped.

"Rolf is here?" he asked quietly. Brigitta nodded once. "He came in yesterday but he's been gone since. Liesl didn't say anything but I could tell she was hurt. I…" and here she peeped up at him with those dark eyes and Georg could tell she was trying not to grin.

"I may have called him a bastard"

"Good" Georg said before he could stop himself. The whole gun thing in the abbey didn't bother him that much if he was being honest with himself. He had been to war and seen to much to be worried about some teenager barely out of school pointing a gun that he had probably only had for a week or so at him. It had been the look on his daughter's face when she had seen him that had stayed in Georg's mind for a long time after they had ran away. Liesl had loved him as sixteen year olds do and Rolf had broken her heart in the worst way possible and if Georg could he would make pay.

Maria had been right he thought to himself. He would one day look at his eldest child and realise that she had turned into a woman, he just never thought it would be on the brink of war.

"Don't tell your mother and try not to make a habit of swearing" Georg said instead deciding for peace of mind that he didn't want to know where his ten year old had picked up swearing. Brigitta nodded and settled back down in his arms.

And it was at that moment that the door opened. Georg shifted so Brigitta was pushed further back against the wall. It was a Major. Probably the Major that had taken some precautions with his daughter. Once upon a time Georg's spine would have straightened at the rank that outclassed his own out of pure habit. Right now he did nothing but tighten his grip on his daughters arm.

"Herr Zeller wishes to see you. All of you" He jerked his gun at Brigitta who shrank back a bit more behind him not that it seemed it would do much use. Georg had no choice but he nodded, helped his daughter up and wrapped her in her coat and passed her Liesl's and took her other hand and with one guard behind them they set off.

There was a banging of another door slamming shut three doors down from them but at the pace they were marching there was no way he could turn around to see what was going on.

And then the second most sweetest thing he had heard today carried to his ears.

"Father?"

It was Liesl.

"Liesl?" He shouted, he half turned around but was roughly shoved forwards again and he gritted his teeth.

"Father" Liesl said and there was a catch in her voice that made him frown.

"Did they hurt you?"

There as a beat of silence.

"Liesl?" he barked using his Captain's voice and Liesl let out a small noise that tugged at his already battered heartstrings.

"No…not really. Father, Rolf's dead. They shot him"

Brigitta gasped next to him and Georg closed his eyes. For all he thought of the bastard he hadn't wanted him dead. Rolf was just another product of his time-another boy that had to become a man due to war and with at least one son rapidly approaching manhood and the age of conscription to boot he found he couldn't delight in the death of a boy who had broken his daughter's heart as contradictory as that was.

They were pushed the three of them into a big room and Liesl was shoved unceremoniously into his arms. Georg took a second to fully appreciate having both of his girls in his arms and then he took a look at Liesl and his stomach gave such a hot swoop of anger that he had to fight back the urge to sink his knife into someone right there and then.

It looked like she had been whacked with a pistol. Her eye was a mass of bruising, her cheek inflamed and black and the skin under her eye was cut. There was blood drying at her temple and her lip was split and her eyes (which he noted were the exact shade as his late wife) were wide and shocked and blown apart as if she had just had the world pulled out from under her-also she had been crying he noted. Liesl had never cried not once (that he had seen) in the last seven years and he felt the anger throbbing under his blood setting his skin on fire.

He pulled both of his girls closer to him as the door opened and Herr Zeller walked in. He took in Georg with both of his daughters and then he smirked once. Georg gritted his teeth and turned his head to whisper in Liesl's ear so quietly that she wouldn't have heard it unless she was right next to him.

"I need you to do something for me by brave girl and then I promise this will all be over"

Liesl nodded once a jerk of the head under his chin. Georg squeezed her shoulder in comfort.

"Grab a hold of your sister and get ready to run. Leave your coat if you have to but just make sure you have a hold of Brigitta, turn your head away as well. I don't want either one of you to see what's going to happen next."

He moved himself then so he was standing in front of them and took in the room. Two guards and Herr Zeller. He had sent away the Major he noted, the only soldier who would probably have a good aim. Stupid mistake.

He would have to take out Herr Zeller first. That was his knife's job and then once he had the pistol the guard right behind him and the guard to the left. Again they had nobody guarding the door that led to the empty courtyard and nobody guarding the gates. Georg could only marvel at either the gift God had given him in such an easy escape route or in Herr Zeller's arrogance that he had broken him.

He reached for his knife as Herr Zeller came closer.

"Captain Von Trapp" the man said his teeth on display.

"Herr Zeller" Georg said smiling viciously. He thought in that second of Liesl's bruised cheek, of Brigitta clutching his hand, of Maria and the way she had guided him through all of this, of Friedrich, his boy so close to becoming a man and fighting these monsters, of Rolf the first of the many casualties, of the millions of men he had seen die or that would die and he knew that while he had many regrets about his actions in the past he would not have any regrets about this.

And with that he reached of his knife and with all the skill given to him by the Imperial Austrian Navy he plunged it into the soft skin of Herr Zeller's throat.

* * *

 **Next Chapter-There is a struggle and a run for three lives and Brigitta remembers some information that allows a plan to put together, that may see the three of them set free.**

 **And i will try and update as soon as i am back. Enjoy. **


	11. Now or Never

**Hi, so here is another chapter. I didn't think i was able to publish another chapter with this update but i found the time so here it is and i hope you enjoy. This chapter i know gives some closure and i had a lot of fun writing it. There are six remaining chapters left in this story. The next chapter however will have a bit of a twist as we break away from the narrative and explore some other characters.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please read and review.**

 **And i will try and update quickly as soon as i have access to WiFi.**

 **A lot of this history is based on research but some of it including travel plans that were taken and the whole crossing border thing i did embellish geography is not my subject whatsoever so i based it a little of a map online and not on location of railways anyway- I apologise if there is any inconsistences.**

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Uprising

Chapter 11-Now or Never

There is a struggle and a run for three lives and Brigitta remembers some information that allows a plan to be put together that may see the three of them set free.

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For a second Herr Zeller and Georg were locked in some sort of fierce staring contest as the blood bubbled over the edge of the knife. Finally after what felt like an age and probably wasn't really Georg pulled the knife back out grabbed Herr Zeller's gun and then shot with a deadly precision the two guards who were running closer. They both fell but Georg felt like he was seeing this sort of thing underwater. His brain had yet to catch up with what had happened and the only thing that he knew was that the only opening he was ever going to get had just opened now. It was now or never.

He turned around and reached for Liesl who was watching with a sort of shocked gaze and Brigitta who thankfully had had her head hidden so he only really had to worry about one child's reaction to seeing her father kill three people. He grabbed both of them and forced them down the steps at a run, across the courtyard and into the street, down an ally and then finally they had to stop because the soldiers who had come running at the sounds of gunfire from all over the bloody compound were now spilling out into the street in search of their foe.

Just as Georg was wondering what to do next the door next to them in the ally was opened. In the dark he couldn't see the figure and Brigitta gasped. The man beckoned with his hand and Georg decided that he didn't have a lot of time to debate trust right now. He thrust both of his daughters inside and then the door was closed behind them.

It was a bar that had clearly just closed up Georg could tell. The innkeeper pointed to behind the bar and he pulled both of his daughters down. The adrenaline was finally wearing of both of them and he could feel Brigitta begin to shake next to him as Liesl's hands were gripping the other so tightly her knuckles were turning white.

There was a banging noise and the barman dropped down next to them for a second. The sound of footsteps followed and the four of them held their breaths until they passed. Georg looked up as the bartender stood up.

"Thank you" he said even as Brigitta dropped her head onto his shoulder as if she couldn't lift it again. "Why?" he didn't really want to push his luck but considering the swiftness that the Nazi's had invaded and the fact that most of the nobility had considered it a thing not worth fighting over it was a wonder that there were some people that still thought this country worth fighting over.

"I fought against em bastards in the last war, like hell I am gonna have them in my country without putting up a fight, you were running from them. Figured you must be doing something right." was all that was said and Liesl relaxed minutely next to him. Georg held out a hand and shook the barman's as he pulled his two girls up with him.

"Thank you" he said again and received a curt nod in return. Georg nodded. "If you steal a car and have the money then you can get across the border. The train station is still taking people mostly Jews out of the country if they can pay for it. Don't know where but once your out you can always go somewhere else. You better go soon though, I give it tomorrow at best before they slam the boarders closed and a curfew is put in place. Everything's up in the air right now especially with Britain finally showing some sort of interest. They have to at least try and keep this invasion legal if they want to succeed. Especially if America's interest is piqued."

Georg nodded and then the barman opened the backdoor once he had made sure that the coast was clear. A hand reached out and grabbed him just as he was about to push his daughters out of the door. The innkeeper studied him for a second and then pushed a small bottle of what looked like whiskey into his coat pocket. Georg grinned and the other man grinned back for a second.

"Good Luck" was all that was said before the door was shut.

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A lifetime in the Navy and a necessity to be prepared for any eventuality gave Georg enough time to crouch in the dark and struggle with the lock to a car door. Once he got it open Liesl climbed in but Georg noted with some concern that his daughter just laid there on the seat as if the adrenaline and pure nerve that had been keeping her going the last few days had drained out of her and all she had left was seeping out. Brigitta shot him a terrified look but Georg managed a smile.

"Get in next to your sister but keep your head down. If were stopped then there's a good chance that we can bluff our way out by saying she sick." Thank God the children had their passports and Georg had most of his bank account still with him. Again a shoddy mistake by the boys he had just killed. But he could reconcile himself to that later. Right now his focus was on his daughters and sneaking out of the country he had been born in like a thief.

He gritted his teeth and started driving taking it nice and slow and praying that nobody would pull them over. He took the backstreets and only used the lights if utterly needed. The last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself. He had after all just killed the leader of the Austrian Nazi's or whatever stupid German title Herr Zeller had managed to weasel out for himself.

His nerves were more shredded by the end of the drive than they had been in four years of active Navy service battling German ships. But they had made it. Georg sent another prayer to the heavens for making it but then they had another problem. It wasn't even like the station was awash with guards. It was however, awash with people. The innkeeper had not been wrong, half of Austria must be choosing to flee.

Brigitta hopped out of the car and took the passports in her hand looking drained. Liesl looked at him through her one good eye. She looked as exhausted as Brigitta did and Georg managed to smile at her when all he wanted to do was apologise for not keeping her safe. Liesl's last remnants of childhood innocence he knew were gone and there was no point in hoping that she wouldn't understand what was going on-hell she, Friedrich and Louisa probably knew more than he did considering the amount of time he had spent in Vienna. He resolved to sit down with his eldest three children and talk to them. Brigitta had a chance at keeping some of her innocence intact. Kurt, Marta, Gretel could be protected for as long as he could ensure it. But Liesl had seen him kill three men, had seen one die herself and had been beaten for no reason other than she was his daughter.

If they survived this he had a lot of explaining to do.

Instead he held out his hand and Liesl took it staggering a little on her feet. He wondered briefly when was the last time that she was had slept. Brigitta it seemed had had some sleep, but he imagined that Liesl had stayed awake. "Nearly there" he said in what he hoped was a comforting tone and Liesl nodded her hands curling around his arm. Brigitta was hanging onto his other arm and with both of his daughters holding on tight and the passports and money safe and secure he managed to push his way to the front of the mess that was the people getting on the train. If tickets were out then it would be a question of money and who had it. Thank God he did.

"Father" Brigitta said as the ticket master came into view. "Rolf said the borders are accepting trains without question of the cargo if they go into the countries that ally with the Nazi's. From there we can go anywhere"

Georg nodded and hugged her tight as they got to the top of the que. 500 schilling was enough he noted wryly and the train guard pocketed it with greedy almost grabby hands. He lifted Brigitta onto the cargo hold and then Liesl and then climbed into the carriage himself.

It was dark and stuffy and already people were climbing on. Georg found in the darkness what looked like a corner where there was a bit of light and therefore a bit of fresh air and direction poking through and decided to sit there directing both of his daughters to the corner. Brigitta curled up next to him almost immediately but Liesl looked still dazed and Georg wrapped both his arms around them only letting them go to take his coat off and wrap it around the three of them.

There was suddenly a great lurch and then the train was off speeding along the tracks as silent as the night out of Austria, out of Nazi controlled territory and hopefully to safety. There was no time to mourn the fact that he was leaving his country that he had been born and raised in, that he had served for proudly and would have been proud to die for like a common criminal and probably once they found Herr Zeller's body a war criminal to boot. He could do that later. Right now, he had to concentrate on the nearly sleeping Brigitta and Liesl who even in the dim light from the one bulb that had been given in the carriage looked pale as a ghost.

Georg turned her head giving her a small smile, but his daughter gave no impression that she had even seen him. Georg inspected the damage trying to keep his emotions in check. Herr Zeller or someone on his orders has pistol whipped his eldest. There was dried blood on the side of her head that was slowly congealing in her hair and there was already a bruise forming on her cheek. Her left eye was slightly swollen and her lip was bleeding thought that at least didn't look too bad. Brigitta shifted next to him but when Georg turned around it looked like finally the adrenaline had left his ten year old and her head was dropping down. He shifted gently pulling his hands away from Liesl so Brigitta was curled under his coat her head in his lap and then turned back to his eldest.

"Liesl" he said very quietly. "What happened to Rolf was not your fault you understand that?"

Liesl turned to face him slowly. "They shot him because he knew me" she said. In truth Georg suspected that was probably what did happen but he figured that a small white lie for Liesl's benefit probably wouldn't hurt.

"No my darling. They killed him because he was there. It was all to trick me into thinking one of you were dead. Should another soldier have been in a room with Brigitta then they would have shot him. Life…it means so very little to the Nazi's unless it's the right kind"

Liesl blinked and then shook her head. "All of this is my fault" she said softly. "It was my fault that we got taken, it was my fault we nearly got caught in the abbey. If I hadn't have gasped when I saw him then we could have snuck out quicker and we wouldn't have been in a rush and…all of this…" she trailed off tears spilling over her eyes.

"No" Georg said hugging her to his chest and rocking her a little as the train lurched in the darkness.

"No sweetheart that was not your fault I promise you. None of this was your fault. I should have sat down with you and your brother and explained what was going on but I wanted to preserve what little of your childhoods I could. I forgot that you were all grown up."

Liesl let out a small sob and then pressed her face into his shoulder. It was the first sign of direct contact that she had instigated since he had seen her and Georg let her lean her head against him and let him be the strong one.

"You did amazing Liesl" he said into her hair. "You did amazing"

The train moved on into the night and Georg checked his watch. Midnight. He turned to crack a little bit more of the slat to try and see where they were but he couldn't in the darkness. He hoped that they were over the boarder and into Milan. Once they had gotten to the station they could take another train in Switzerland and hopefully they could find Maria and the other children and he could hold his family close and pretend that war wasn't on the horizon for the second time in his lifetime.

Liesl eventually fell asleep on his shoulder but Georg would stay awake until the train would come to a stop in another hour and a half. They would be in Italy then, another fascist country where he could get the train from Genoa or somewhere else until he was safely in Vienna. Thank God he though the borders for Switzerland would still be open, thank god he had his daughters back, thank god this nightmare would be over.

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Georg didn't know it yet but they had already crossed the border. They had left Austria behind them, his home, his life, his country and in an hour and a half they would be boarding another train that would hopefully take them to safety. He didn't know that he had escaped the border closing around Austria as the net of the Nazi's finally closed tight by just one day. He didn't know that somewhere both in Switzerland and in Austria two women one young and one old were praying for him.

But he did know he had his children back. They might be bruised and tired and scared of what came next but he didn't matter so long as they stuck together.

That he thought grimly as both his girls slept through the train ride…was all that mattered.

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 **Enjoy.**

 **And i will try and update as soon as i am able to.**

 **Next Chapter -Friedrich and Louisa talk about the world they are living in the changing times and how helpless they feel in Switzerland and Maria attempt to help the children understand just what is happening while having faith that her husband will return. **


	12. In the Midnight Hour

**Hi, so here is another chapter and this one breaks from most of this story and focuses on Maria and the children and specifically Friedrich and Louisa. I genuinely believe that out of all of the children, Liesl, Friedrich and Louisa probably knew enough about the Nazi's to know what they were capable off. The conversations about faith and some of Maria's background are fictional so please keep that in mind and the next chapter will return back to where we left of in chapter eleven.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

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Uprising

Chapter 12-In the Midnight Hour

In Switzerland Friedrich and Louisa talk about the world they are living in the changing times, the events that might take place should Germany not stop their advancement in Europe, and how helpless they feel cooped up. Maria attempts to help her eldest two children with their separate crisis's of confidence or faith whilst having her own faith that her husband and children will return to her.

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The night had gone dark and Friedrich had just finished telling the last of the stories in the big book of fairy tales that he found in the bottom of Brigitta's bag to his two little sisters. Gretel was not sleeping very well since they had found the hotel with the one room for them all and her tossing and turning in turn woke up Marta and then someone had to tuck them back into bed before Kurt woke up. Even in these times Friedrich knew his brother slept like the dead and when he woke he couldn't go back to sleep easily.

He looked around the room and then closed his eyes feeling older than fourteen. They had gone straight from the train to the hotel, their mother had gone out that night to alert the train authorities in case their father came looking for them and then she had come back looking tired and as wan as the rest of them but with some milk, some bread and some cheese which they feasted upon like it was their last supper. The nights where they had sat around the dinner table cold frightened children either dreaming that their father was home to share a meal with them or sat like they were on pincushions when he was were becoming a distant memory.

So it seemed were the five courses they were served. Now it was simple food that they could eat cold more often than not as the money their mother had taken from their father's swiss bank account was to be spent sparingly.

The big bed had been taken by Marta, Gretel and Kurt who were small enough to have room in it to make it comfortable. Louisa took the small sofa in the room and that left their mother and Friedrich to take the floor. When Friedrich had protested their mother had waved down his objections pointing out that she had spent most of her teenage years and early adult life in a convent and this was surely not the first time she had been uncomfortable. This had left Friedrich with nothing to do but lay his head down his own body often or not thrumming with exhaustion and fall asleep as easily as he had done when he was a child.

But that had only been for the first couple of days. They were now heading into day four of his father's disappearance and his sister's kidnap and Friedrich was feeling very much at the end of his tether.

If it was bad for him then it was even worse for his eldest remaining sister.

Their mother had pulled them aside to tell them what had happened that night and while Friedrich had known in the sinking pit that was his stomach Louisa had not. She had gripped Friedrich's hand in shock and then let go and pulled herself together in a way that Friedrich had never seen her do. He had the typical relationship with his sisters that all brother's do but he had to admit that he was proud of Louisa's composure in that moment when she had found out that the world was going to hell in a hand basket and they were being swept along for the ride.

But as they days went by for Louisa who was always outdoors it was clearly becoming harder and harder for her to adapt to being cooped up inside with no news and no clue on weather or not the danger had passed them. After all she had whispered one night to Friedrich, if the Nazi's had already invaded their country with just the slightest pretext then what was really stopping them from invading Switzerland or even the world.

Friedrich hadn't commentated but he had worried enough in the dark for both of them.

He worried about his family trapped like spiders in a jar in much the same way his sisters were. He worried about the state of his country…if he could even call Austria his country right now. He was stateless he supposed. He turned to lean back against the pillows of Louisa's empty bed closing the book and breathing through his nose. He was alone again.

Louisa had taken to doing the midnight train runs to see if their father or sisters were on the ones steadily pouring in from other European nations. There was a pause where he sat there and rubbed his hands over his face pressing them into his eyes. His mother had gone to the local church. She had taken to going late in the afternoon and she had been on her knees all night. It was a convent (of course it was) and with more and more refugees pouring over the border she was spending more and more time there. Friedrich didn't mind. If his mother had half an idea of what Louisa was doing in the dead of night then there might have been an open rebellion.

Speaking of the devil he thought as he brushed Marta's hair off her face. The door had opened then and Louisa had slipped in as quietly as she had slipped out. She had her coat tucked around her and her head-kerchief tied around her blonde curls. She shook her head as she clapped eyes on her brother and Friedrich shrugged. He had not been holding out hope that his sisters and his father would be with her but still…

"It's mad out there" she said dropping into a seat and kicking her boots off.

"More trains but…" she bit her lip. "Countries are closing the borders. You know…it's a very real possibility that father, Liesl and Brigitta wont make it out in time"

He bit his lip. That too had been a concern of his more so than his sister prowling train tracks at night on her own. Their mother knew what she was doing in the daytime but not at night and if she did she would have a fit.

"I should have stopped them" Friedrich said voicing a fear of his. "If I had been more a man like father I would have stopped Liesl from taking Brigitta or I would have had the sense to go with them so they weren't on their own. I was a damn coward Louisa. It should be me in Herr Zeller's clutches not them…there…girls…oh you know what I mean" he said quickly upon seeing his sister's raised eyebrow.

"If you had been captured father would have just gone after you and we would still be in the same boat that we are in now" she said finally.

Friedrich shook his head not dispelling his doubts. He had not been the man his father had been expecting him to become. He took a deep breath and then leaned back on the couch resting his head in his hands. Louisa watched him.

"We are going to go to war aren't we Friedrich?" she asked finally.

Friedrich looked at her for a long beat. Liesl knowing about the Nazi's he could believe especially since her boyfriend was one of them and he too had scanned enough of Uncle Max's papers after the wedding to know what was going on but he didn't know how much Louisa knew. His sister shrugged.

"I think…I think Hitler has to be stopped" he said carefully. "But I don't think Austria could stop him"

Friedrich paused groaning sitting back and feeling the muscles in his back protest. He looked over at the book that Brigitta had taken as one of her few possessions. The book had been their mother…their birth mother's and she had read the stories to them tucked up in the nursery as they had fallen to sleep. After she had died Liesl at the age of thirteen had taken up the challenge. Her voice had never cracked over the words, she had always had a smile for them. Friedrich had never seen her cry over their mother. She had been the epitome of stone and he had loved her for it because it had given him an excuse to not be brave and to cry.

'God will protect you' their mother had said by way of a blessing at bedtime. He looked over his younger siblings and looked back at Louisa.

"God will protect them" he said. Louisa let out a rude snort.

"No he won't" she muttered. "Look at what we've been through. Mother, father being as cold as stone and Uncle Max dropping by, the Baroness, Mother…Maria that is that mother…now this. We fled our own country in the middle of the night and lost two sisters and a parent doing it and you want me to have faith in a God that right now I don't think gives a damn about us and probably never has"

"Louisa don't say that" Said a voice from the door and Louisa and Friedrich both turned around to see their mother fresh from church looking at them. If she noted Louisa was still half dressed as if she had been outdoors then she did not comment on it.

"Why not?" Louisa asked tossing her blonde hair back, there were times when Friedrich had to admire her daring. "It's true. Father and Liesl and Brigitta are not going to come back. The boarders are closing, the Nazi's are winning and…nothing is going to stop us from losing them…" she broke off when her voice wavered and Friedrich couldn't help but feel like this whole thing would be avoidable if he had just stopped Liesl from taking Brigitta away from the group.

And why had he not done that?

Their mother crossed the room and had Louisa in her arms before he could think twice and before Louisa who was not the most comfortable with physical affection in the family could react as well. Louisa leaned back against their mother's shoulder nestling into the hug after a second like some sort of lost baby bird.

"There is always hope Louisa" their mother said shooting a look to Friedrich as if to make sure that he understood that she was talking to the both of them. It was as if she had read his mind somehow and she knew what was bothering him and she was telling him that it was ok.

It wasn't. She couldn't tell him that he wasn't a coward or anything less of a man in comparison to his father. There was only one person who did that and a part of Friedrich wondered if his father who had become a changed person overnight would tell him that there was nothing he could have done and mean it rather than just lie.

He privately hoped there would be a war. He hoped in a way that he would be old enough to enlist for it. For the right side at least. He wanted to go and fight for whatever country refused to let the Nazi's bully them into a takeover at the slightest pretext. He wanted to go and put on a uniform and be a part of something bigger than himself and fight and die for a cause that was bigger than his own life just like his father had. He hated the Nazi's and he would do anything to help bring about their destruction of that he was sure.

He looked down at his hands and curled them into fists thinking of his sisters trapped in Austria the country which had been their home until a week ago.

"We feel helpless" was all he said and Louisa buried her face in their mother's shoulder as if she no longer had the fight to keep herself upright. She had banked all of her hopes on one day seeing their father and her sisters get of a train and even though it was day four of their separation he could tell Louisa was struggling to reconcile herself to being the oldest sister for much longer when the role had been Liesl's for all of her life.

"I know darlings" their mother said. "But you must have faith,"

"Yes" Louisa said impatiently "But how do you know that It's all going to work out. How can you have that much faith in God that you believe that He's going to deliver us our family?"

Their mother paused as if she was considered what to say and then…

"When I was a little girl I knew living In my home was not going to make me happy. My mother was very sick and my father had died in the war and when I was lonely I would climb to the top of that mountain the one I took you to when I taught you to sing and when I wasn't singing I would pray that somehow I would find my happiness. And then I heard the nuns singing in the abbey and I had faith, Even when I was sent away from the only home that I had truly thought I belonged to I had faith…and then I married your father and was granted all of you. I have faith that your father will do anything in his power to get our children back and come back to me. I have faith that this conflict will be over soon and I have faith because Louisa sometimes faith is all that keeps people from losing their minds. During the last war faith was all a lot of people had myself included. Faith in God is important and your father promised me that he would do all in his power to come back with our children so we could be a family. Have you ever known your father to break a promise?"

The answer was yes but before Friedrich could say it Louisa interrupted again.

"Not like that no."

Well…no he supposed she had a point.

"Good" Their mother said smoothing Louisa's hair back again. "Now get ready for bed both of you. It's nearly midnight and we have another long day tomorrow"

Friedrich nodded even though the movements felt wooden and he got undressed and curled around the blankets as their mother gave Louisa her night time blessing. Friedrich felt her hand on top of his hair and heard her goodnight but he pretended rather childishly to be asleep and if she saw through it she (blessedly) made no comment.

He could only hope she was right and that they would see their family soon and that faith would restore itself back as a solid strong fixture in their daily lives.

He knew he should also hope and pray that war would not come. He knew a little of what the devastation the last war had caused. He knew that the world had never been the same. Their country had once been part of another country for crying out loud. He knew millions had died and millions had been displaced and the world would give Hitler whatever he wanted in order to stop it from happening again. He knew this but being the eldest boy he knew he should pray that he was never called up to fight. But he couldn't.

Because right now the anger curdling in his stomach was so strong it was overpowering. The guilt he was feeling was enough to make tears rise in his eyes and he couldn't help but wish for a war so that he could prove to his father in this long midnight hour that he was a man and not the damn coward he thought he was for letting his sisters become (for all he knew) casualties in this build up to what felt like the end of the world.

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 **Next Chapter-Georg, Liesl and Brigitta disembark in Milan and try to find a train to take them to Switzerland to their family and to safety. Georg must reconcile himself to the fact that his children's innocence is gone forever and tries to explain what is happening.**

 **And i hope you enjoy it. I hope the next chapter will be published sooner rather than later so stay tuned and tell me what you think.**


	13. Grave New World

**Hi, so here is another chapter and i hope you enjoy it. There is only a few more chapters of this story left so i hope you enjoy all of them and i think there might be quicker updates as well.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review**

 **Also anything historical inaccurate is my fault and apologise but i am trying to write how i imagine Georg would try and explain things especially to Brigitta who is only ten.**

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Uprising

Chapter 13-Grave New World

Georg, Liesl and Brigitta disembark in Milan and try to find a train that will take them to Switzerland to their family and to safety. Meanwhile Georg must reconcile himself to the knowledge that his children's innocence is more than likely gone forever and tries to find the words to explain what has happened.

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They disembarked in Milan when it was dark. They had been rattling around in the carriage for most of the night and the day and it was getting dark when they disembarked. Georg suspected that the trains were being held until the soldiers disappeared and then they could offload the refugees that were escaping. Either way he had stayed awake the whole journey even if both of his daughters had fallen asleep against his chest.

Regretting that he had to wake them he shook Liesl awake first. His daughter sat up her whole body jerking stiffly as she looked around in a way that Georg knew instinctually was Liesl's own way of making sure that she wasn't in any danger. The bruise on her cheek was a fantastic colour know and her lip was swollen but even under the mess that was her face Georg could see the tell tale signs that his daughter had not been sleeping since before he had arrived perhaps even longer than that. He suspected that Liesl had known about the Nazi's presence alongside their borders for a long time and know he knew he would have to sit down with perhaps his four oldest children and explain to them what was going on and what he suspected would happen next.

He had thought more than once through the night of Friedrich. Of his golden haired boy who as Maria had so deftly put it was turning into a man soon. Georg remembered how excited he was about the thought of war and the chance to prove himself for his country and the thought of all the glory and the chance to finally be a man and he also knew the illusion would shatter in a way that would forever leave certainly his eldest son marked by the events of war. He wasn't sure if he could stand the thought of that.

Going to war had been bad enough and returning had been bad enough but sending a child off to fight a war that he had thought his war had stopped? That was perhaps the worse kind of thing that he had ever imagined living through. And in the darkness of his thoughts he had thought a lot over the years.

Brigitta woke when Liesl did and the train shuddered to a halt sending the three of them sprawling somewhat. Georg grimaced. There were many other people on this train and they would have to run if they were to avoid discovery at least until they found one that would take them to Zurich where he hoped against hope Maria would be there with his other children and they could begin rebuilding a life for themselves. Perhaps America, Perhaps Australia. Somewhere far away where the Nazi's couldn't get to them and God knows Georg knew of the top of his head that those were the furthest countries in the world.

"Wait until everyone gets off the train and then we can find the train that will take us to Zurich" he said casually trying to pretend that he was not as nervous as he might seem.

"But father-are we going to be travelling in the dark again?" Brigitta asked and he felt her fingers in his shirt as if the thought of travelling in the dark in a small cargo compartment frightened her.

"Yes I imagine so but do not worry. All of the people here are people who are fleeing Austria or Italy or some other place where the Nazi's have taken hold. There will be no trouble."

He did not doubt that but he also knew it was likely to be cramped and crowed on board and he knew that neither of his daughters had had anything to drink or eat since they had escaped the compound in what felt like a lifetime ago.

"I know this is hard but as soon as we reach Zurich we can get something to eat and drink"

"It's alright father" Liesl said finally. It was the first time she had spoken and her voice seemed a little bit back to normal and that had to mean something even if he was sure she was still not alright. "We can manage"

"I know" he said as the doors were opened and light and more importantly air was blasted into the carriage. He stood up feeling his back immediately groan in protest and he had to remind himself that he was not sixteen and ten again and therefore he couldn't throw his weight around like he was. He held out his hand and Liesl took one hand and Brigitta the other and then once he had pulled on his coat they were off the train and into the darkness of the Milan station. Georg hugged both of his girls closer to him and then pushed them forwards as they were pushed and pulled by the crowds, forwards towards the different stations. There was a pause where he stood there looking in the dark at the list of train stations and tried to figure out what was happening and where he had to go because he had a feeling that once this train left it would be bloody difficult for him to get on another, and then he realised that to get to the Zurich station he had to go right.

"Come on" he said swallowing and wrapping one arm around Liesl who was still looking a little bit lost and Brigitta who was really beginning to look tired and wan and he was willing to bet that the adrenaline that had kept his daughters standing over the last three days was beginning to drain and then they were really going to struggle.

"Nearly there" he said as they pushed through the crowds and then he bit his lip as he saw the crowd. Switzerland, The Netherlands and other countries such as Denmark which were still free from Nazi rule were clearly going to be the most popular places for refugees to go but still he had no idea of how he was going to pay for the three of them when it became clear that the price was going to be outrageous. He pushed the three of them closer to the front and looked at the ticket master or whomever it was that was going to determine weather or not he got from one cargo hold to another with his children.

"Three of us to Zurich" was all he said, he used his best Captain's tone in the Imperial Navy and the expression that matched and it was the one that had once upon a time stoked fear into the hearts of everyone including his children. The ticket master turned to him with a raised eyebrow and Georg took the last bit of money he had and shoved it into his hand and then before he could protest grabbed both of his daughters and forced them one after the other onto the cargo hold on the train and again into a corner.

He suspected that it might be harder to get their way out of Italy rather than Austria because Italy had been under the rule of a fascist leader for a long time while Austria had only been invaded nearly three weeks ago. While they were taking steps to close the borders things had still been complicated, he suspected that things in Italy were decidedly uncomplicated if the fact that they were travelling in the night in a silent train hidden like prisoners with no light might be something to do with that. Liesl hugged herself a little bit closer and Brigitta screamed softly when the door to the compartment was slammed shut and they were plunged into darkness.

"It's alright" Georg said hugging her closer and feeling both of his daughter's tremble a little. "It's just so nobody finds out where we are. Once were over the border and into Switzerland I imagine we can light something"

Liesl shuddered next to him and Georg wanted to ask if the two of them had had light while hey had been imprisoned but then he had to grit his teeth. He wanted to ask but he wasn't sure if he wanted to ask his girls what had happened just yet-he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answers.

Finally there was a light next to him that he recognised as a cigarette being lit. The light flickered onto Liesl's face and then off and he saw too men sat in the corner so close that in the darkness it looked like they were holding hands. He realised suddenly as the light died out that they probably were. It wasn't just the people who did not want to conform that were fleeing like him and his family, it was the people that couldn't conform like the Jews or men like the two he had just seen. Somewhere there had to be a safe haven for them.

"Father" Liesl said quietly in the darkness. "Why did you not want to fight with the Nazi's? I know some of what they preach, I read about it for a while but Rolf…" her voice wavered for a second and then it grew in strength. "Rolf used to say that a lot of people wanted us to be German"

Ah.

"Liesl, Brigitta, we are Austrian" Georg said firmly. They might have fled the country in fear of their lives. His children might be stateless but he would be damned if they thought that they were German. "Some people wanted us to be German yes because after the last war when the allies divided the German Empire up many German speaking people ended up in Austria. When Hitler rose to power about five years ago he wanted to bring back the glory of the German Empire and that involved taking back the land that was taken off Germany at the end of the war"

"Then why didn't anyone stop him?" Brigitta asked.

Georg paused for a second and then he breathed through his nose trying to think of the answer because in all honestly he wasn't sure why this man had been allowed to ruin the peace treaty that Georg and millions of other men had fought for.

"Because Brigitta the last war was…very bad and a lot of men lost their lives. People will do anything to stop that from happening again and sending their sons or brothers or father's off to war"

Brigitta shifted a little so she was leaning against him once more.

"I don't want there to be another war" she said finally.

"No darling" Georg said pressing a kiss into her hair. "I don't want there to be another war either"

Liesl said nothing.

* * *

Georg woke sometimes later when the train grew steadily faster and he winced as his back virtually screamed in protest. Brigitta was curled up next to him and after an hour or so staring into the darkness he was pleased to see that she was had fallen asleep. He paused and then realised that Liesl was not leaning on him asleep but was rather sat against the wall with he noted the bottle of alcohol that the innkeeper had given him. She must have took it out of his pocket and she was now sat leaning against the wall and judging by the open bottle Georg thought that she must have had a swig or two.

"Liesl?" he asked not wanting to disturb Brigitta. Liesl looked at him and then she closed her eyes and then opened them again. Without looking at him she passed him the bottle and Georg guessed she'd had a swig or two. She moved back to sit next to him but she was decidedly not touching him.

"I think we crossed the border a few minutes ago. Train speeded up then"

"You know I don't like you drinking" Georg said cataloguing this information. Liesl let out a distinctly un-Liesl like snort and Georg took it to mean that she was angry. Very angry.

"You didn't like me wearing red lipstick but I do. You didn't like me with Rolf but I did it. Or did you because to be honest I don't recall you giving a damn about what I liked or didn't like very much"

It was bitter and it was harsh and it was true and Georg felt his heart beat a little faster. He knew that he had been harsh on his children and he had not expected forgiveness for his behaviour so quickly. He supposed it would be Liesl who would confront him about the way he had acted and he supposed it might as well be now that he got his reckoning.

"Liesl I know that I have perhaps not been the best father in the world…" he would bring up what had happened with Rolf and perhaps more disturbingly the red lipstick thing later when he had had some sleep and Liesl was up for a conversation. Liesl shook her head at him and then she moved so that she was next to him and without even thinking about it Georg opened his arms and she slid in next to him like she had never left.

"He died Father" she said softly. "He made me feel beautiful and special and then he turned on me and then he died before I could tell him that I didn't hate him. There was a time when you were away all the time where if he would have asked me anything I would have given it to him shameful or not just because he made me feel beautiful. And now he's gone and the world is just full of hate and I don't know how to live in it"

Georg catalogued the information that Liesl might have…allowed her relationship with Rolf to progress for another day. He had enough to worry about right now and he didn't need that on his plate as well. He had five daughters after all who were all pretty and all well read and intelligent and passionate about what they believed in and he didn't think that Rolf was going to be the first boy and he probably wasn't going to be the last that came sniffing around Liesl. He was however a product of the times that they were living in.

"I am sorry about Rolf but Liesl…what he was going to become, the things he was going to fight for…they are reprehensible to anyone with a brain. It might be all good now. When Germany are gaining in strength everyday but…sooner or later these values that are being promoted in Germany and in Italy are going to be torn down and I can only pray that too many people are taken in by them"

Liesl nodded and then she turned her head into his chest and then her shoulders shook slowly at first and then Georg realised that she was crying. She was crying for the boy she had lost, for the country she had lost, for the world she had lost and for the old Liesl who had been lost somewhere in between dancing with a boy and seeing him shot in front of her. It was the first sign of emotion that Georg had seen from her in days and it was genuine and he hugged her closer rocking her from side to side and shushing her least she wake Brigitta.

"It's alright darling" he said finally even though it wasn't. Not really. "You just let it out"

The train carried on into Switzerland, to safety finally, to his other children and his wife and his family, and onwards to the brave and grave new world that he and his children and his wife had entered where nobody would remain untouched by the hatred and the fear that was so often associated with an ever increasing and approaching war that Georg knew from his own experiences would change the face of the world forever.

* * *

 **And let me know what you think, hopefully the next chapter will be up soon.**

 **Next Chapter-Georg and the girls enter Switzerland and attempt to find their family and piece together their lives again. While speaking with his wife however Georg realises that perhaps his daughters haven't been the only one's effect or confused about the events that have taken place.**


	14. There but for the Grace of God

**Hi, so here is another chapter and this one has the one thing a lot of you wanted, a reunion so i hope you enjoy.**

 **Thank you all so much for your kind words, it means a lot and there are only three chapters left of this story so thank you for sticking with it.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just this plot**

 **Please read and review.**

* * *

Uprising.

Chapter 14-There but For the Grace of God

Georg and the girls enter Switzerland and attempt to find their family and piece together their lives again. While speaking with his wife however Georg realises that perhaps his daughters haven't been the only ones effected or confused by the events that have taken place.

* * *

The train did eventually stop and Georg realised that it was daylight again. He could have almost smiled had it not been for the fact that he was tired, his back was in bits, his daughters were almost dead on their feet-the adrenaline slowly leaving their bodies and Georg himself was filled with that itchy feeling that he knew with intimate knowledge that came when he knew he was so close but yet so far.

The train had stopped though and it was daylight and it was sunny and Georg took that rebirth to mean that for the first time in nearly a month he and his family were not skulking around like criminals in their or any other country. He stepped off the train wincing at the sight of the sunlight in his face and the chatter of people that went around their daily lives as if nothing had ever happened. He was very aware suddenly he had not had a shave or a wash in nearly four days and there was a pause he stood there breathing in the fresh sun and the air and then he felt Brigitta tugging his hand and he looked down and her.

They were exhausted he could tell. Liesl was leaning against him her head on his shoulder and soon enough they were going to get strange looks. Her bruises were now yellow and dark greenish indicating that they were healing but there was still a serious amount of dried blood crusting at her temple and in her hair. Her eyes no longer held that haunted look though Georg wasn't sure how much of that was the alcohol that she had consumed in the train. Instead she looked tired and even though Georg knew that she was still grieving their was a calmness about her that made him want to hug her even tighter.

Maria had been right he thought bitterly looking at his eldest and wrapping one arm around her. One day he would look at his daughter and see he was a woman and not a little girl anymore and he found that perhaps that time had been now when she had had her heart broken and learnt that despite everything you read in novels it did not break you but in fact made you stronger. But he could not deny that she had given him some food for thought and he was going to have to speak to his eldest and indeed watch his daughters more closely as time grew and Louisa, Brigitta and then Marta and Gretel grew into young women.

He was not really looking forwards to it.

Brigitta next to him rubbed her face with her hand that Georg noticed was filthy. Both of his girls were in need of a hot bath and a hot meal and he could only hope that Maria had found some lodgings where both were easily accessible because if not then Georg suspected there might be a mutiny.

"We are safe now" Georg said finally. "We are in a country not controlled by the Nazi's and soon we will find our family." Liesl nodded next to him but Georg honestly didn't know how much of it was his eldest trying to remain cheerful as Brigitta's doubts began to get more and more apparent. There was a pause where he stood there on the platform again and Georg gently pulled them off the traps and up the steps onto the platform seating Brigitta down on one of the benches and then bending down to take a look at her. Liesl might be hurt and she might be grieving but Georg knew his eldest was made of the same strong stuff that he was made off and he knew she would keep herself standing as long as possible if only to get some answers, answers that he did not know honestly how he was going to explain.

Brigitta he said cupping his child's face in his hands. Brigitta's dark eyes struggled to focus on him and then when they did they were filled with a terrible sought of weariness that Georg hated. The hatred he had for Herr Zeller in that moment was so strong that it almost overpowered him. He had done this to his daughters. Had taken too children and stripped them of their childhoods and their innocence and the naïve believe that their parents could fix anything for them-the beliefs that were scared to his children…to any children.

"Are you alright my darling?" he asked her softly. Brigitta looked around for a second at Liesl who somewhere managed a small smile for her sister and then shook her head once. She didn't say anything else but her teeth came out and clamped down on her bottom lip and Georg suspected that she wanted to cry but she didn't want to do it until they were somewhere out of the public eye.

Instead he stood up and he sat down on the bench sitting down and wrapping one arm around Brigitta.

"I know you've been through a lot Brigitta" he said finally. "And I know it must be confusing right now but you have been so brave." I know it seems like the whole world has gone upside down but I promise you soon enough it will be like this never happened. I am going to get us on a boat to somewhere safe, either America or Australia or somewhere where the Nazi's cannot get to us and then things can go back to normal"

He was rambling he knew and he wasn't making sense but the exhaustion, the adrenaline loss and the two exhausting train rides had finally caught up with him as well and every bone in his body was exhausted and aching. He longed to be back with his wife and other children and he paused as Liesl shifted from foot to foot as if she knew if she sat down there was no way that she would be able to get back up.

She wasn't looking at him though, her eyes were on something in the distance and her head was tilted to the side as if she was desperately looking for something or someone and when Georg opened his mouth to ask Liesl just what the hell she was so fixated on she grinned. Not her forced grin that she had used since Rolf had been shot but the real genuine smile that he had long ago forgotten about.

"Fuck me" was all she said grinning like a schoolgirl on Christmas day.

"Liesl Agathe" Georg began shocked at the language but Liesl was grinning and pointing and the three of them looked as one to see the figure standing there on the edge of the platform her eyes clapped on them as if they were ghosts. Even from a distance Georg could recognise the blonde hair.

Louisa.

Well fuck indeed he thought privately.

And the relief that rushed through him at the sight of his second daughter was enough that had he been standing he would have had to sit down again.

"Louisa" Brigitta cried and then his ten year old was off the bench and running down the steps across the tracts to the other end of the platform and then she threw herself at her oldest sister and Louisa (who had nearly fallen over) immediately wrapped her arms around her ten year old sister and all but swung her off her feet. The two of them immediately started chatting away if they had never been apart and Georg knew that the two of them were closer than any members of his family and he felt his heart lift when he saw them together again.

Liesl started walking as well and even though she was walking stiffly she was walking fast and then his three daughters were hugging all three of them in some strange group where even though they were all different shapes and sizes and hair colours he couldn't tell where one of them began and the other ended.

He stood up wincing again at the twinge in his back that he hoped would go away once he was sleeping on an actual bed. He started to walk towards his daughter at the same time Louisa turned around and saw him there and her face which was already split into a smile at the sight of her sister grew wider and wider when she caught sight of him and then she was running past her sisters and into his arms.

If there was one thing that he was going to never take for granted again after this whole ordeal then it was his children and their love and support. Long ago he had thought that being near them was just adding salt to the wounds that had been bleeding since he had buried his wife but now having lost two of them and not knowing what had happened to the rest he had found himself praying (especially that night on in the convent) that if he got the chance to be together with his family again he would never take them for granted.

Louisa hit him all elbows and knees and she threw herself at him and Georg cupped his hand around her blonde hair as her hands came around his stomach and her face pressed into his shoulder. She was getting almost as tall as he was and he allowed himself a moment to hug his daughter before he pulled back and looked her up and down for any signs that she or any of the other children or even Maria had been in danger.

She was thinner than he remembered but she wasn't hurt in anyway and she looked like she was eating something good. Georg smiled at her as Liesl and Brigitta came closer.

"Where is everyone Louisa are they are all safe?" Brigitta asked her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Were in a hotel." Louisa garbled gesturing for them to come and follow her and Georg allowed his girls to walk ahead keeping an eye out just in case any authorities had heard anything from Austria following his murdering two soldiers and Herr Zeller had spread to the more neutral countries. The sooner they were out of Europe the happier he would be. There at least there was a cover of anonymity that did not exist here even if the country had spent a long time swearing it's neutrality.

Louisa however led them up several stairs and then in and out of side streets so fast that if there had been someone following him then they would surely either notice it or loose him. He listened as Louisa chatted animatedly pleased somewhat that Brigitta was perking up in the company of her sister and her best friend. Even Liesl was smiling.

"And I was coming to the train stop each day and each night to see if you were coming on either of the trains and there were hundred's of refugees escaping, Germany mostly. There all either getting off but a lot of them are going on the other trains as they don't think that they can live here without being deported."

"Louisa that was a dangerous thing to do, going around at night in a strange city not knowing any other people." Georg said as they climbed some more steps and entered what looked like a hotel that was so far of the beaten track that there was little chance that they could be found. Georg was suddenly filled with a rush of pride and love for his wife.

"I know father" Louisa said smiling softly. "But I wanted to do it. It felt like it was my bit, you know?"

Georg did know but he smiled and didn't say anything as Louisa knocked once on the door.

It opened after a pause and it was Friedrich. It was his boy who was looking like he was dead on his feet. He took in the four of them and whatever he was about to say died in his throat. He took them in for a second and then a smile broke his face.

"Mother!" He shouted "Kurt, Marta, Gretel come look!"

Kurt poked his head around the door just as Friedrich picked Brigitta up and swung her around. Kurt let out a shout and then all of his children were there and the seven of them were hugging each other and shouting and gleefully talking and even Liesl's bruised face seemed to be ignored in favour of each of his siblings hugging each other gleeful at being reunited. For the first time since he and his wife had returned from their honeymoon they had the chance to be children again.

Speaking of his wife he turned around and saw her leaning against the wall watching his children reunite. Suddenly he was very aware that he had not bathed or shaved in four days, he had spent a day and a half cramped into two separate cargo holds praying that he and his children would not be caught and now he was safe and sound, and his children were safe and sound and he had no regrets about crossing the room in two strides and wrapping his arms around her and kissing her in a way that might have perhaps been inappropriate in front of his children but he didn't care.

He pulled back and with her eyes overbright Maria touched his face once as if to say that they would continue this conversation later. He nodded once turned to his children and allowed himself to be hugged and kissed and he hugged them once again reminding himself that he would never again take this for granted.

There would be time for talks, with Liesl who had lost so much, with Brigitta who was still confused, with Louisa and Friedrich who had questions and deserved answers and with his wife who had been so patient and accepting of why he had to do this alone and who deserved answers the most.

But right now he wanted nothing more to do than spend a little bit more time with his children who by the grace of God he had found again with the door and the world locked away behind him.

* * *

 **There it is, i hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you think and i will try to post the next chapter as soon as possible.**

 **Next Chapter-As Maria spends time with Liesl and Brigitta, Georg finds and speaks to his son about what makes a man and about what it is to be a boy on the brink of war. **


	15. Breaking Apart

**Hi, so here is another chapter. Only two more chapters of this story left so i will leave this author's note as short as possible and focus on the concluding chapters.**

 **I think that this might be the last chapter in Georg's point of view and the next chapter will deal with a lot more historical content in it before the final chapter.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just this sweet father/son bonding chapter.**

 **Again, please read and review and let me know what you think.**

* * *

Uprising

Chapter 15-Breaking Apart.

As Maria spends time with Liesl and Brigitta, Georg finds and speaks to his son about what makes a man and about what it is to be a boy living in the shadow of a war.

* * *

Maria had decided to take the girls, all of them out of the hotel room and into town for a bit of shopping. Brigitta had been swayed by the bookshop, Gretel and Marta by the thought of chocolate and Liesl probably knowing the strain his eldest had been under had gone with them simply for the air. Georg had decided to remain back in the hotel. He had lots to do before they departed Switzerland and entrusting Maria with emptying his bank accounts (thank the Lord for the neutrality of Swiss banks and his trust in them since 1934) was the least he could do. He could not go himself. He knew if word got out about what had happened in Austria he—and probably his family would be arrested and deported where he would be tried for treason.

So instead he stayed inside the hotel.

Kurt eventually went with his mother and his sisters. His children were so new at being reunited after the shock of their departure and Kurt was so desperate to become a man that he had puffed out his chest and said with all the arrogance of a twelve year old that he was coming with them to ward off an unseemly gentleman callers.

Georg highly doubted his son knew what those were but he had smiled and allowed the boy to go anyway.

Friedrich had go instead moving from the bed he had slept in to the window seat sitting there with his knees dangling off looking out the window. On further reflection Georg could see his son was tired and pale. No much more than most of his children having been cooped up in the hotel room but there was something about Friedrich's melancholy air that made him pause. He gestured to Maria with his head at his son and his wife the wonderful woman that she was knew instantly that he wanted to be alone with his son.

Friedrich looked up as the door closed behind them and he eyed his father for a second. "You could go with them you know." He said sitting down at the small table. Friedrich shrugged and then turned to the window again. "So, could you" he said finally not looking at him. Georg turned to him and took him in with his eyes. Friedrich was a boy on the verge of becoming a man and perhaps a solider if the British and the American's called up the men to fight. He might not have raised his children very much prior to Maria's arrival but he knew that his naval training and the core of those believes had continued into his life. He knew he had raised no coward in either of his boys and he knew when duty called they would move heaven and earth to be there.

That didn't mean he had to like it.

"I am not going to go out until we go to the train stop." He said finally. "Your mother has gone to get the money and it will do both your sister's good for them to get some fresh air. I…I did somethings to get them back Friedrich. Some bad things, I don't want to put them in danger"

Friedrich looked at him for a second and then moved so he was sat opposite the table looking his father dead in the eye. "Did you kill anyone?" he asked. "Because Liesl looks awful and I don't just mean her face? Did you kill Rolf?"

Georg eyed him for a second and then decided that his boy was old enough to know the truth.

"Yes" he said finally. "I killed Herr Zeller to rescue the girls. Herr Zeller shot Rolf and smacked his gun across Liesl's face before he separated your sister's probably for a more advanced interrogation which would have included Brigitta as well. Liesl is older, she knows things perhaps more than she should, but Brigitta is still a child."

Friedrich took that in for a second and then paused thinking hard.

"I understand" he said finally. "That you had to do what you had to do father"

Georg nodded.

"Son" he said finally. "What's troubling you?"

Friedrich paused and then shook his head looking away as If the emotions that were raging in his body were too much. It made Georg pause. Friedrich watched him for a second and then when he spoke his voice was full of self loathing as if he had gone through a marathon with himself mentally and had decided to speak the truth to get it over with. And then it seemed that once the words were out of his mouth they were spilling out of him without control and there was nothing Georg could do but sit back and try and pretend that the words were not shredding him up inside.

"I should have stopped Liesl going after Brigitta. I knew, I just knew that this was going to end badly and I knew it then. I should have stopped them both and made them wait until we were on the train. I allowed both of my sisters to be captured by Nazi's and then I stood by and allowed you to go and find them without any help from me. If I had been half the man you were regardless then I would have helped you instead of climbing on a train and pretending that the danger did not exist. Even in the Abbey Father—in the damn Abbey I stood there while a man who I knew was sniffing around Liesl pointed a gun at you and I did nothing. _Nothing._ I am a damn coward it seems and there is nothing you nor mother nor anyone else can say that will change that. I failed. And you should hate me for it"

Honestly? Georg was floored.

How had his son come to that conclusion? He was fourteen and while he might be older than most of his siblings (bar one) there was still that childish look in his son's eyes that came with just that—being a child. Liesl might have been an adult turning into one right under his nose but Friedrich was still a boy and Georg had ignored him for far too long.

This could not stand. Not for a second longer.

"Friedrich" he said reaching across the table so that he could touch his son's hand. "I want you to listen to me very carefully" he said hoping his tone was strong enough that Friedrich would believe him. Certainly it was enough for his son to look him dead in the eye and that had to mean something.

"You are NOT a coward. You did what I asked you to do and you helped your mother protect your younger siblings. I did not ask you to get on that train because I knew that you would stay with your siblings and protect them if for some reason your mother could not. I trusted you and Louisa with that because it was the only way I could sleep at night. Had you been there with me it might have ended in tragedy or with another one of my children being taken hostage and I will not put you in danger when I don't have to. But you are not a coward my son, you are a brave man who protected his family. I want you to understand that."

Friedrich watched him for a second but didn't react. Georg moved so he was directly in front of his son and he grasped the face in his hands feeling the smooth skin that would soon be covered in stubble. Already Friedrich had lost the baby fat that he had, had since the summer began and already he was holding himself differently. His boy was turning into a man and it was clear that he was had missed out on the signs.

"Friedrich. I know you think that you could have helped me. That your place was by my side but the only way I could focus on the girls was knowing that you were safe with your siblings. I know that things have been confusing and I intend to tell you all about what's going on, I know that Liesl and you know a bit about the invasion. I had thought that protecting you would help you retain some of your innocence in the world but know I see I have to start treating you like the man that you are becoming." He paused. "And as for the Abbey, Friedrich, If you'd have stayed and protected me or whatever you would have done Rolf would have either shot you or screamed for help earlier. It's far easy to shoot an unarmed boy than it is too look a man in the eyes and shoot him. Especially if your Rolf. That hesitation cost him his life. I guarantee it will not cost you yours"

Friedrich looked at him for a time and then he nodded his face crumping for a second and Georg pulled his son into his arms feeling the weight of him. Once upon a time he had held Friedrich on his hip holding a struggling Liesl by one hand as his wife big with their third child was walking by the lake. He had been newly back from the war then and everything had seemed like a dream even though he had known it wasn't.

"It's alright son" he said into his son's blonde hair even though he knew it wasn't. "I promise you It's all gonna be ok"

Friedrich pulled back and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. Once the naval captain in Georg would have started shouting and shrieking at his son to use a handkerchief but Georg watched him with a fondness this time because the moments where his boy was just that—an ordinary fourteen year old boy were few and far between at the minute.

To save his aching knees he sat back down on the chair and pushed it closer to his son. Friedrich tapped his nails against the wooden table—a habit he had gotten from his mother and then he asked the question it was clear he had been desperate to ask for a very long time.

"Father. Do you think there's going to be a war? A World War, like the last one?"

Georg paused. His first instinct was that of a father and deny it. But then he remembered that he had promised himself that he was going to be honest with his children, certainly the ones that were older and had been through a lot. Liesl especially, Brigitta perhaps, Kurt and Marta and Gretel not a chance until he would need to sit down with his other son, Friedrich and Louisa yes because they knew enough. More than he had ever wanted them to know about. He had thought honestly prior to the invasion of Austria that the news of the Nazi's party had not got past Vienna.

He thought back to what it had been like when so long ago their Archduke had been shot and the whole country had been primed and ready to go. The grenade had been building for a long time but that had pulled the pin out of it and he wanted nothing more to do but to put on a uniform and fight the enemy.

Of course the story was never that simple. The war had been long and hard to say the least and he had been at sea and not on the land. War was not glamourous far from it. He wanted to deny it because he had a feeling that Friedrich would react the way any innocent boy would. And that was more than Georg could take. Instead he was going to tell the truth and God have mercy on him for the consequences.

"It feels like it did the last time Friedrich" he said finally. "The world—it feels like it did the last time. Like the world is just waiting to break apart and—you don't remember but the world before the first war was a different place. It changed it forever, if we go to war…if Europe and the world descend into that kind of madness again then I don't know what the state of the world is going to be like when it's over"

"I want to join when I'm old enough." Friedrich said his voice strong and his face resolute. "I want to ensure that nobody feels like this again. That people like the Nazi's cannot just invade and tell everyone what it is to be Austrian. Or German, or whatever people have to be now"

Georg nodded feeling older than he had ever felt. War took on a whole different story when you had children of your own.

"I know" he said finally. "I know you want to be in the thick of it. It's something that I wanted once upon a time too as well. But right now. we are not in a war. Can we wait until war is a certainty and then discuss it? I know you want to fight but I don't want you to squander away your life or what's left of these years. For now I want you to go to school and flirt with girls and live your life. But you are not a coward son of that I can swear by. You are brave. Braver than most your age and I never want you to forget it"

Friedrich looked at him for a second as if he was trying to gauge weather or not Georg was lying and then he nodded and smiled, a genuine smile this time which Georg was relieved to see. It was a sign that Friedrich was still the boy he had been before this debacle. He clapped his son on the shoulder and then Friedrich smiled again.

"Why don't you tell me about what you and your siblings have been doing. I heard from Louisa that there had been some travelling at night to the train station?"

Friedrich snorted. "I tried to tell her that wasn't going to be a good idea. But you know what Louisa is like"

Georg snorted himself in his own agreement and then settled down in his chair. "So tell me" he said seriously. "Tell me everything's that's happened since that night"

When Maria came in later they were still there chatting and laughing away and Georg caught her eye when she returned. Liesl was still quiet but Brigitta was clutching two new books and her face seemed to have lost all of the tension. She would never again have that fresh look of a child safe and secure in the country of her hometown but she didn't look like she was going to dwell on what had happened to her. He owed her an explanation for what she had been through and when he looked past his wife to his eldest daughter and took in the pale look on her face and the way her smile did not seem to meet her eyes he knew that he owed her more than that and the time had come to tell his children what had happened during what he suspected were the last golden days of the 1930s.

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 **Next Chapter-Penultimate Episode, Liesl, Brigitta, Friedrich and Louisa get some answers on the events that have happened, their future and the events that have taken place that will eventually define their lives.**

 **The ending is of course in reference to the scene in the beginning of the movies by the way. Hopefully the penultimate chapter will be up sooner rather than later and please let me know what you think of this one. **


	16. Transition

**Hi, so here is another chapter, this is the penultimate chapter of this story so I hope you all enjoy.**

 **This does contain some historical reference and I hope I have got it all right, again any historical inaccuracies and I apologise. As I said before at the beginning of this story I find it unlikely that the older children would not have known about the Nazi's and so I had Georg explain it as simply as he could particularly because of the age of some of his other children-eg. Brigitta.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just this little story.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

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Uprising

Chapter 16-Transistion

Penultimate chapter, Liesl, Brigitta, Friedrich and Louisa sit down with their parents and get the answers that they so desperately want and need, the events that have happened, their future and the events that might take place that will define their lives.

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That night they supped on a meal of bread, cheese, ham and milk. They made sandwiches and had biscuits and strawberries for desert. It was simple food and it was cold, but it was the best meal Brigitta had ever had because she was with her family. She had gone out today and felt the sun on her face and finally changed her clothes which were now soaking with Liesl's in the bathtub. They were filthy, and they were ripped and both her and Liesl needed them gone and clean. They had taken baths and her mother had washed her hair rubbing soap so hard into the dark strands that Brigitta had on more than one occasion winced. Then she had sat Brigitta down and ran a comb laced in oil and other herbs and checked for lice. Finally, once she was dressed into her nightdress and her hair was braided back into a tight knot on the back of her head she felt completely free of any taint that she might have picked up in her time in prison.

They ate that night with gusto the lot of them. The small table in the hotel room was crowed with them all around it though their parents chose to eat sat on the bed. They ate in their pyjamas and Brigitta turned to her new book. When they had gone to school they had all learnt English and she had a pretty good grasp of the language. Here the books were in a combination of French and German and she knew those languages because they were the two spoken fluently in Austria. So therefore she flicked open the newest of the two books that she had gotten and she settled down to read for a bit before she went to the bed she was now sharing with Marta and Gretel.

All was calm for a little while, while her father sang softly to her little sisters and to Kurt who had taken a space on the couch where he and Friedrich were sharing a space that had very little elbow room. Louisa and Liesl had made a small pile next to the window of sheets and blankets and pillows. Their parents Brigitta suspected would not sleep which was worrying somewhat because Brigitta was not sure exactly how long her father could keep going. Already he looked dead on his feet and he was cramped into a small room. Even though his name had not been mentioned in any police reports he was not taking any chances until he got on that boat and they were safely across the Atlantic it seemed.

She shifted a little as Marta's breathing evened out and she turned on her side to get the light better as she was reading her book. Louisa came out of the bathroom her hair tied back in a loose braid and she smiled at her as she went and sat on the pillow reaching for her diary and her pencil that was bitten to the quick near as damn it when Louisa stuck it in her mouth.

Finally Kurt's eyelids fluttered shut and Brigitta decided that now was the time she should go to sleep. She was tired if she was being honest with herself and she had yet to get really into her book so she placed her bookmark in the crease of the spine and then turned around so she was lying on her back composing herself for her prayers.

Her father gave a little cough and Brigitta cracked open one eye not remotely tired. She shifted and winced a little as the remaining members of her family that were awake sat up a little straighter. Friedrich looked up from his book and Liesl's eyes were already clasped upon her father's with that same look of grim determination on her face that she had had when they had been locked in that dark, dank little cellar.

She sat up watching the way her father turned to her mother and her hand in his as some unspoken measure of support. She rubbed her hand over her face as her father turned back to them.

"Brigitta, Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, if I could beg a moment of your time?"

He phrased it like a question but Brigitta was already sliding out of bed. Liesl reached for the blanket next to her and wrapped it around her thin shoulders. Louisa put down her pencil and Friedrich looked up from his own book schooling his expression into something that told Brigitta her bother knew what was coming.

Without meaning to they sat around the table either on the chair or on the floor curling around each other as they waited for their parents to speak.

"Tomorrow" her father said finally. "Your mother is going to go to the docks and book us all a passage to America. The next day we will leave Europe. I have enough money to ensure our safety in a small state where nobody knows us where we can live comfortably until this danger passes. I have hope we will return to Austria I do, but I want you all to prepare yourselves for the possibility that we will never return to our house by the lake or Austria."

Brigitta swallowed. Austria and that house had been her home and a place marred with both sadness and joy in equal measure. Now they were gone possibly for good. No more reading by the lake or her own room that overlooked the grounds. No more ice skating and snow and other pursuits. No more apple strudel and ice cream whenever Liesl was feeling naughty enough to sneak out on her way to meet Rolf and bring them all back a slice. It had been a place of marching and orders and isolation but it had also been her home and she had to swallow against the longing she felt to go back there and curl underneath her covers. There was so much she would have done in that last week after the Nazi's took over if she had known what would happen. It was impossible know she knew but to hear it put so bluntly…

It was hard to say the least.

Their father took another breath as their mother rubbed her hand on his knee. Brigitta forced her thoughts to the present. It would do nothing she knew if she dwelled on the past.

Instead she gripped her hands in her lap and tried to think about other things. America was—nice she supposed. From what she had read and seen in the pictures it seemed like anything that could happen in America. And it would be a different kind of adventure. Personally, though Brigitta thought she had, had enough of them to last her a lifetime.

"I know that you all have questions and that you have not gotten the answers that you have deserved and some of you have suffered because of it" He shot another look at Liesl who was sat like stone watching him. Louisa next to him was frowning and Brigitta took in the bags under her sister's eyes and the exhaustion that was in her body and she wondered what it must have been like for them to sit and wait and hope for the best.

"And I think that you deserve to have answers. Friedrich, Louisa, Liesl I know that you three know information and that you have seen first hand the Nazi's influence or at the very least you have read about it. Brigitta you do not know much but because of the events that you have endured I believe that you have a right to understand what you have been through and why. However I cannot impress upon you enough the importance of keeping what I am going to tell you to yourselves. When I believe that Kurt, Marta and Gretel are old enough to understand or when the situation demands it I will talk to them but until then I want you to keep this conversation to ourselves. I don't want to frighten them."

Brigitta shifted a little. Suddenly it was if she was aware of every sound in the room. Finally, answers that they did not have to cobble together from stolen newspapers or whispers in the dark. Finally, something tangible that she could hold onto and keep and make her own.

Someone somewhere in a book that she had read once had told her that knowledge was perhaps the deadliest form of power in the world and that ignorance was the greatest crime. Brigitta didn't have the luxury of strength like Friedrich or Louisa's razor sharp wits or Liesl's look. All she had was books and the knowledge that came with them.

"As many of you know in 1933, Adolf Hitler took over the German nation. After the first world war Germany was forced to accept the blame and that fostered a long standing resentment between them and other countries and Adolf Hitler abused that for his own good. He began pushing to regain territory that the allies had taken off them and in doing so he has used the weakest excuses that he could to take over other parts of Europe, for example their was civil unrest and the borders of Germany were not safe or other reasons. Now the allies such as England and America have not entangled themselves yet because they believe that allowing Germany more land will eventually keep them in line. That is not true. I believe—as well as an old solider can that war will eventually be the outcome of these events"

"Why did we have to flee?" Louisa asked quietly. "What did they want you to do?"

Their father paused and then spoke again. "They asked me to captain a ship in their navy" he said truthfully. "I would not do that. I will not captain a ship for that man or that party, their believes—I will shield you from—not because I think that you are not old enough to here them but because they are so…deranged that I fear you will never understand them. The Nazi's belief will see many people killed in their quest and I will not sit back and watch them do it. They would have come—no they did come after you in order to get me to comply and for that reason I knew we would have to leave, as a family"

There was another long pause and then Friedrich spoke.

"If it comes to a war father I will fight"

Their father closed his eyes for a second and then opened them again as if some sort of emotion had took hold of him and forced him to take control of himself. Brigitta wanted to say that she would fight too but she thought that over the events of the last few days she had done enough fighting and she didn't have it in her right now to do anymore. All she had the strength for was a bed and a home.

"I know you will son, but right now we have to concentrate on leaving this place and finding freedom. We can talk more on this later but I did not want you to think that I abandoned our homeland and our home for a whim. These people have hurt my family and I do not have the power to do anything other than run and thank God that we are together and we have escaped—I fear so many families will not have that luxury."

There was silence around the group and then their mother chimed in as if seeing that they were weighed down with their individual questions and thoughts. "Your father and I are always here if you have any questions. We will not hide the truth from you anymore but I do not believe that tonight is the night for a debate. We have told you the truth because we believe you old enough and wise enough. If you have questions then answers you shall get but not tonight. Tonight is the time for bed"

They said their goodnights and Brigitta slipped into the heavy bed wrapping the warm covers around her. Louisa was asleep before her head hit the pillow and Friedrich turned on his side so she could not see his expression. Liesl paused for a second as if she was thinking about something and then she shook her head slowly to herself and turned on her side. Brigitta watched her for a second longer and then out of the corner of her eye she saw her father his face pale with the strain of what was going on outside of these four walls that right now they could claim their sanctuary gently kiss their mother.

Brigitta turned smoothing her cheek against the pillow and closing her eyes trying to shut her brain off for a time where she could think upon this information more clearly. Knowledge was power in this strange new world she thought to herself, a lack of it was how the Nazi's were getting away with things. Her last thought before she fell asleep was that as long as people like her father were willing to tell the truth and her brothers were willing to fight for it to be heard across the dark corners of the land then there was always hope for a world that regardless of which generation it was, would never known the deadly cost of a war.

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 **And there you go. I will try and update the final chapter as soon as I can. I hope you enjoy.**

 **Next Chapter-The final chapter of this story, Georg takes his family and flees to America. On the boat Liesl makes a decision about her future and this story comes to a close.**


	17. Next Chapter

**Hi, so here is the final chapter!**

 **I want to say a BIG thank you to all of you who have taken an interest in this story. Your kind words are amazingly appreciated and I do intend to come back to this fandom and write another story sometime soon. Thank you all so much for reading this story and I hope you enjoy this final chapter. Again any historical inaccuracy is unintentional. This story is set in the last days of the 1930s and therefore reflects the attitudes of that time.**

 **Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.**

 **Please Read and Review.**

* * *

Uprising 

Chapter 17-Next Chapter

The final chapter of this story. Georg takes his family and flees for America. On the boat Liesl makes a decision about her future and this story comes to a close.

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It had seemed like a bad dream that wouldn't stop. Even now looking out onto the horizon at the dark land mass that was Switzerland it was hard to believe that she had escaped alongside her family with most of her sanity and her body intact.

Liesl had come out onto the deck of the steamer in order to breath in some air. They had gone in second class so they could share a cabin. Her mother was taking one with the girls and her father with the boys and every day they sat in the main sitting area and played cards or read books until their dinner arrived.

The food was simple compared to what they had had in Austria but one night there was chocolate cake that cheered everyone up and the food while simple was hot and after a week off cold dinner in a hotel room was something and Liesl found that she was sleeping better. The truth of that was that she was feeling better but she didn't know if she had a right to. Rolf was dead and for better or worse he had still been once upon a time a sweet boy with blue eyes who had made her smile and laugh and who had kissed her for the first time. It was hard to reconcile that with what he had been in the end but Liesl had decided to only think of the boy who had once smiled at her with his bright blue eyes and not the man he had become. The times ahead would make men out of all the boys.

However she had decided she was not going to stay in that cabin another moment. Marta was decidedly seasick now the boat was moving in earnest and their mother was tending to her below. Louisa too did not enjoy travelling by boat and had gone to lie down. That had left Kurt and Friedrich who were happy to take care of Gretel and Brigitta who last Liesl had seen had been curled up in the corner of the cabin blankets around her with her nose in a book.

Some things Liesl suspected would never change about her sisters.

She however could not stand to be in the cramped room anymore and therefore she was now standing at the edge of the deck looking as Europe faded from the horizon as the ship turned towards the Atlantic Sea and the United States of America. To freedom. To a new life and she found that she couldn't wait.

"Liesl?" said a voice behind her and she turned to see her mother…her new mother standing there, and she paused when she saw her offering a small smile before she turned back to the shoreline that was getting darker and darker against the setting sun.

Her mother came and joined her. "Your father is checking on the children. Marta and Louisa have fallen asleep. Brigitta is still reading and Kurt and Friedrich are playing cards. I wanted some fresh air and it seems that you and I had the same idea" There was a smile shared between the two of them and Liesl turned so that her back was to the shoreline.

"I am glad that Brigitta has turned back into herself" she said finally. "I…I tried to convince her that all was going to be ok but…I confess I didn't know what the hell I was talking about…sorry" she said remembering that her mother had once upon a time been a nun.

"I do not judge you for some crass language when I think of all that you have been through Liesl. I thank God that you and your sister are unharmed…well…mostly" she said her finger brushing the bruising under Liesl's cheek in which she knew had mostly turned to yellow. Both she and Brigitta had, had a chance to bath since they had returned to the hotel and she was more than happy to see that when she rubbed soap in her hair the dried blood had come out and the dirt and the grime both inwards and outwards had been washed away. The bruising now was mostly healed and she could now see out of her eye fully rather than the squint she had been using when she had spent time in those cargo holds that had taken her from country to country unable to see or know what was going to happen or when or if.

"I am glad that we are safe mother. I am glad that we can go to safety and that we are together again, but it seems like everything has happened in a rush and…and I just need some time to breath in the air and adjust."

Her mother nodded once looking out over the sea for a second longer before she responded. "I do understand that. Leaving Austria, leaving Europe is like recognising that we have done something wrong though I have never judged your father for the choices that he has made. Your Father has always been his own man and he has always made his own choices. I knew that when I met him. But we have done nothing wrong, Liesl. We have done nothing other than say that we will not allow the people who invaded us to take control of us. If fleeing is the only way then, Rolf knew that…he knew what he was getting into I believe. And in that case then you know that you should not break your heart over his death. The boy had become a soldier. You Liesl are not responsible for anything that has happened."

"I know that" Liesl said finally leaning her head on her mother's shoulder and smiling. "But that still doesn't make me feel like I have not lost something. I know what we left behind and if I could go back and change what has happened I wouldn't. I know why we left now. I knew why we were leaving then it's just…now were free. It takes a while to get used to it"

Her mother nodded and then kissed her on the top of her head. Liesl paused. She could not remember the last time she had been kissed like that-as if by a mother. She remembered with a sudden clarity what she had said when she had first met this woman—about how she had not needed any help, or any guidance. She had been right that very same night. She did need help and guidance. She needed a lot of it. Liesl was not infallible, the last few days had proven that. She was human like everyone else and like everyone else she needed help. And the Lord knew there was no shame in asking for it. When she did, she would have her father and mother with her to guide her and help her.

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Her mother left her then on the deck to stare out into the black horizon and Liesl paused again chewing her bottom lip a little in between her teeth. She did not know how long she stayed out there breathing in the salt and the clean wind, but she heard her father stand next to her and knew that it must have been a while for him to come looking for her.

"Your youngest sisters are still asleep. I managed to get them some soup, but I hope Marta will be over the seasickness soon—otherwise I fear this will be a long voyage. Kurt and Louisa have gone to get water. Friedrich has managed to drag your sister away from her books and they are getting some soup now. I wanted to see if you wanted to eat as well."

"No" Liesl said finally. "I want to see Europe disappear. It's like the nightmares and the bodies and the Nazi flags disappear. But it's hard as well—do you—do you think that someone will have found Rolf? And taken him back to his parents? Whatever happens or whatever does happen he deserves a proper burial"

Her father nodded. "I imagine that someone will have found the bodies. The details might be ignored, and I doubt Rolf's parents will ever figure out who shot him but no doubt they will be told that Rolf was part of a secret operation but died a hero in service for his country"

Liesl scoffed shaking her head and she turned back to stare at the sea. The land mass was getting smaller and smaller and it seemed every second that she was staring at it her heart got lighter and lighter.

"You did an incredible thing Liesl. Keeping yourself and Brigitta safe, waiting for me even though you had no idea what was going to happen. Keeping it together for as long as possible. You did an incredible thing. I know soldiers and sailors who would not have been able to keep as calm as you had or endure what you had to endure. I am so very proud of you"

Liesl smiled a little at the praise. It no longer felt as condescending as it had done previously but then again, she had been a very different girl then as well. She had been angry and hurt at the world but her father's words in that hotel room had made her think. She had seen the Nazi's up close and read about their plans for the world. They would not stop with Europe, France the Soviet Union, Britain, America and even Australia were the countries that were in good shape or far away enough to fight them. There was going to be another war she had a feeling the same as her mother and her father did that she and her family were going to be caught in the middle of it. The thought made her stomach turn but it didn't terrify her. For Liesl it just made her want to live her life for as long as she could and holding grudges was not how she was going to live it. She had grieved Rolf for three days and she had known him only a little time. Her father had grieved their mother and he had, had seven children with her.

"What I said on the train about you…" she trailed off as her father shook his head and smiled at her even with a tinge of sadness added to the smile. "I do understand Liesl, I do. I was not the best father. I made mistakes. I made many mistakes and I left you and your siblings and…and I took the possibility of losing you and Brigitta to wake up and see what was in front of me. I don't begrudge you your anger, I don't begrudge you a boyfriend or opinions"

Liesl smiled and meant it too. Her father slung an arm around her waist and pulled her closer so that they were hugging. It was the first hug that they had shared in more years than Liesl knew either one of them cared to count.

Finally, her father broke the silence as they hugged.

"So, do you want to tell me who gave you the money to go and buy red lipstick?"

Liesl could only laugh.

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Later that night she turned around in her little cot and pulled the blanket to her. From the corner of her eye she could see Brigitta, her little partner in crime from this 'uprising' or whatever she would call this fight that had dominated her for the last few weeks, for her sister this would fade, she would always remember Rolf however. Liesl would always remember Rolf and his bright blue eyes. However, she was not going to grieve him anymore. Rolf was the past; she and her family were the future. The future that she was sailing towards and the freedom that they were desperately seeking.

This was her next chapter she thought to herself. The next chapter of history. The next chapter of her life. And Liesl was going to live it. After everything she was going to live.

She turned over again and smiled into her pillow as finally, she felt her eyes close and she fell asleep still smiling.

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 **There you are, I hope you enjoyed both this chapter and this story and I hopefully will write again for this fandom very soon. Again a massive thank you to all of you and I look forward to writing for this fandom soon. x . **


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